Barrett faces questions from senators on Day 2 of hearing

WASHINGTON, October 13

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President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on Tuesday began the first of two days of direct questioning from US senators, as Democrats try to make the case that her confirmation would threaten healthcare for millions of Americans.

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing presents Barrett with a chance to respond to Democratic lawmakers who have been unified in opposing her primarily on what they say would be her role in undermining the Obamacare healthcare law and its protection for patients with pre-existing conditions. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, the committee’s chairman, was due to open the questioning, followed by Senator Dianne Feinstein, the panel’s top Democrat. Barrett was nominated to a lifetime post on the court on September 26 by Trump to replace the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Barrett has criticised a 2012 Supreme Court ruling authored by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts that upheld the law, popularly known as Obamacare. Republicans have a 53-47 Senate majority, leaving Democrats with little to no chance of blocking Barrett’s confirmation. If confirmed, Barrett, 48, would tilt the Supreme Court further to the right and give conservative justices a 6-3 majority, making even the unexpected victories on which liberals have prevailed in recent years, including abortion and gay rights, rarer still. She is Trump’s third Supreme Court appointment. Trump’s nomination of Barrett came late in an election cycle when Republican control of both the White House and Senate is at stake. The confirmation hearing format has changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the public excluded and some senators participating remotely. Democrats, including vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris, on the first day of the hearing zeroed in on the fate of Obamacare, as Republicans push to confirm Barrett before the November 3 presidential election between Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.Reuters