Amy Coney Barrett to be Nominated to the Supreme Court

[Jumpin]

NightlyPoe said:

Multiple news agencies are reporting that tomorrow afternoon, the president will nominate Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.  This is not a surprising turn of events as she had already been a finalist for Justice Kennedy's seat to which Justice Kavanaugh was selected instead.  Trump had allegedly stated later that he was saving her for Justice Ginsburg's seat and she'd become something of a favorite within conservative judicial after she weathered an attack from Democrats in her appeals court hearings based on her Catholic faith.

There was speculation that Trump might select Barbara Lagoa to the court due to political considerations (she being both Cuban and from the swing state of Florida), but the timing of the nomination and strict deadline if they wished to confirm her by Election Day meant that the already well-vetted Barrett with whom Trump was comfortable and was popular with his base had an overwhelming advantage.  McConnell further signaled that Barrett had sufficient support from within the Senate to confirm her.

In the Senate, there is bound to be a huge fight over this nomination, largely based on Republicans refusing to hold a vote for Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland four years ago when Justice Scalia died and general acrimony where it comes to a conservative judicial nominee.  Two Republicans have already signaled that they are against filling the position until after we have a winner in the upcoming election (though Murkowski has since softened to state that she may ultimately vote in favor of a nominee).  However, a majority of Republicans still control the timing and each of the remaining Senators that might have voted against the nomination due to either election concerns, perception as a moderate, or previous statements that they would oppose an election year nomination all signaled that they are in favor of confirming a new justice.

Since the 80s, nominations have generally taken 2-3 months to go through.  The current plan is to complete this nomination by Election Day a little over a month away so as to avoid the less-than-ideal possibility of having to confirm during a lame-duck session after the president and/or Senate have been voted out of office.  This leaves a little over a month to get this done.  Such speed was common in the past, and as recently as Ginsburg herself took only 42 days.  The current schedule calls for a process more along the lines of what the Reagan-appointed Justice O'Connor's experience in 1981, who was confirmed in 33 days.

Gay.

User was warned for this post. - Hiku

Last edited by Hiku - on 27 September 2020