Democrats Hold Senate Floor Overnight to Protest Amy Coney Barrett Confirmation

The US Senate on Saturday and Sunday will debate Donald Trump's supreme court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett. Democrats are expressing outrage at the vacancy being filled so close to the election, but with a 53-47 majority, Republicans have the votes they need to approve her

"A Barrett Confirmation Is a Catastrophe": What Democrats Can Do to Block Trump's Supreme Court Pick

Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout says Senate Democrats can still block the confirmation of President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, if they use every possible procedural method available to them to slow and frustrate the process. "A Barrett confirmation is a catastrophe," Teachout says. "A 6-3 majority on the court is basically a bomb coming at what is left of our protections against corruption in politics, against corporate money, against what is left of the Voting Rights Act."

Goodbye Civil Rights: Amy Coney Barrett's America Is a Terrifying Place

THE GUARDIAN: With her confirmation all but inevitable, how bad will Barrett be? It’s hard to say for sure – but it doesn’t look good

Amy Coney Barrett’s America is a terrifying place
So that’s that then. The confirmation hearings are over and it is almost inevitable that Amy Coney Barrett will be confirmed as a supreme court justice before the November election. Barrett will shift the supreme court from a 5-4 conservative majority to a 6-3 super-majority, a move that could fundamentally reshape America. Goodbye civil rights, hello Gilead.

You’ve got to hand it to the Republicans really; they get things done. They don’t care about being called hypocrites. They don’t care about ignoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dying wish that she not be replaced until after the election. They don’t care about common decency. They don’t care about democracy. They just care about power – and they will do whatever it takes to get it.

So just how bad will Barrett be? Could her confirmation mean the end of Roe v Wade and the federal right to an abortion in America? Is marriage equality in danger? Is it possible she could criminalize birth control? Is America on its way to becoming a Divine Republic? Are we going to look at The Handmaid’s Tale and realize it was a documentary? » | Arwa Mahdawi | Saturday, October 17, 2020

McConnell Hits Out at Guardian and Other Media over Amy Coney Barrett Scrutiny

THE GUARDIAN: Senate majority leader says reports of Barrett’s background in a Christian faith group ‘insult millions of American believers’

Top Republican Mitch McConnell lashed out on Wednesday at reports about Amy Coney Barrett’s background in a strict religious group which the Senate majority leader claimed “demean the [supreme court] confirmation process, disrespect the constitution and insult millions of American believers”.

Among McConnell’s targets was a Guardian report which said Barrett “lived in the home of one of the founders of the People of Praise while she was a law student, raising new questions about the supreme court nominee’s involvement with the secretive Christian faith group that has been criticized for dominating the lives of its members and subjugating women”.

Barrett is an Indiana-based appeals court judge whose strict Catholic views are the subject of concern among progressives, particularly over the fate of Roe v Wade, the 1973 supreme court ruling which made abortion legal across the US. » | Martin Pengelly in New York | Wednesday, October 7, 2020