House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is taking a swing at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) following the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett as a justice to the Supreme Court.
MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin noted McConnell told The New York Times, “I certainly didn’t expect to have three Supreme Court justices… At the risk of tooting my own horn, look at the majority leaders since L.B.J. and find another one who was able to do something as consequential as this.”
Mohyeldin asked Pelosi for her response in light of McConnell’s failure to garner support for a COVID relief bill for Americans.
“Mitch McConnell is not a force for good in our country and if he thinks it’s a source of pride to rush a justice into the Supreme Court in a way that dishonors the court and dishonors Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a matter of fact and he calls that an accomplishment,” Pelosi said.
Watch her comments below:
Pelosi argued they are rushing Barrett onto the Supreme Court so she can be there to repeal the Affordable Care Act and to decide on certain aspects of the upcoming presidential election. (00:01:00)
Speaking to reporters after the confirmation vote on Monday night, McConnell explained Democrats would have filled the vacancy if they were in power, as IJR previously reported.
“If the shoe were on the other foot, they would have acted entirely within the Constitution and within the rules, just like we did,” McConnell said.
After Barrett was confirmed late Monday, on a 52-48 vote, Pelosi expressed her disappointment with Republicans, as IJR previously reported.
She said they “have committed an act of supreme desperation by jamming through a Supreme Court justice — all so that they can achieve their years-long campaign to destroy Americans’ health care.”
Barrett’s confirmation and swearing-in ceremony were held just eight days before the election.