The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Senate for a full vote on her nomination to the Supreme Court.
The panel, led by Republicans, voted 12-0 on Thursday morning, while Democratic lawmakers boycotted the vote. According to The Hill, all 12 Republicans on the committee voted for her nomination while no Democrats voted. The Democratic lawmakers, however, put boards in their seats of people who would be impacted if the Affordable Care Act is struck down by the Supreme Court.
Democrats are boycotting the Judiciary vote for Barrett, and in their place are large portraits of people benefiting from the Affordable Care Act whom the senators spoke about last week pic.twitter.com/4aMOJeF35j
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) October 22, 2020
Since President Donald Trump nominated Barrett to fill the Supreme Court vacancy after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, there has been a lot of pushback from Democrats. Trump and Republicans have been criticized for pushing her nomination through quickly ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
The committee chairman, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), said on Thursday, “As you know our Democratic colleagues informed the committee last night that they will not participate in the hearing, that was their choice.”
He continued, “It will be my choice to vote the nominee out of committee. We’re not going to allow them to take over the committee.”
"We did it. We did it. Judge Barrett's going to the floor."
— ABC News (@ABC) October 22, 2020
Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks after the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to advance the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Democrats boycotted the vote. https://t.co/7Oge8WpTSS pic.twitter.com/czYzTUhz7R
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Judiciary Committee Democrats said in a joint statement on Wednesday, “This has been a sham process from the beginning.”
Barrett is expected to be confirmed by the Senate on Monday. This would make it a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court.