WASHINGTON – Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett Wednesday deflected questions about separating children from their parents to deter immigrants from coming to the United States as well as on the security of mailed ballots, delaying the election and other issues in the final round of questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., asked Barrett about the Trump administration policy of separation of undocumented parents from their children.
“That’s been a matter of hot political debate in which I can’t express a view or be drawn into as a judge,” she said.
Booker and fellow Democrat Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii brought up Barrett’s ruling as an appeals court judge that the public charge rule, aimed at preventing low-income immigrants who would be eligible to receive government aid such as Medicaid from residing in the United States, is reasonable.
Democrats also tried to gauge how Barrett would rule on the Affordable Care Act, reproductive rights and voting rights.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the committee, asked Barrett about whether the Affordable Care Act should be struck down if part of it was ruled unconstitutional.
“If you picture severability being like a Jenga game, it’s kind of like, if you pull one out, can you pull it out while it all stands? If you pull two out, will it all stand?” Barrett responded. “Severability is designed to say, well, would Congress still want the statute to stand even with the provision gone?”
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Barrett has called the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, but Barrett countered that her criticism of the ACA was only as an academic.
“I’m not hostile to the ACA,” Barrett later said. “I would approach it with an open mind just like I do every case.”
Barrett deflected questions on whether she considered Medicare to be unconstitutional, telling Feinstein “I can’t answer the question in the abstract.”
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley claimed Democrats don’t care about Obamacare and instead want universal health care.
“This is all a charade. It’s time to get real. This is all just a distraction,” he said.
When Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., pressed Barrett about the Affordable Care Act, citing President Donald Trump’s opposition to it, Barrett responded, “You’re suggesting that I have animus, or that I cut a deal with the president.”
Klobuchar also asked Barrett whether she considers mail-in ballots an essential way to vote. Barrett said it’s a policy matter about which she can’t express a view, and that she can’t recall ever voting by mail.
Sen. Dick Durbin asked Barrett if the president has the authority to unilaterally deny the right to vote to any person based on their race. Barrett cited the 15th Amendment prohibiting racial discrimination in who can vote, but said she “wouldn’t answer hypotheticals.” Barrett, mentioning her children, later said she is committed to equal justice for all and unequivocally condemns racism.
Klobuchar pointed out that, if Barrett is confirmed, she would be the third justice on the Supreme Court to have worked on Bush v. Gore, a case that decided the outcome of the 2000 election. Trump has refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses in November, and said he expects the Supreme Court to intervene. She also said it would be inappropriate to comment on the prospect of Trump delaying the election, as he has suggested.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., later asked Barrett if the Supreme Court should decide the next presidential election. When courts resolve election disputes, Barrett said, they are protecting the right to vote.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Blumenthal questioned Barrett on her view of Griswold v. Connecticut, a landmark case that guaranteed a woman’s right to privacy in using contraceptives. Barrett again said she wouldn’t express her views, and that it would be very unlikely to come before the court.
Barrett said she shares the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s originalist approach to the Constitution, but declined to answer whether she agrees with his decisions on specific cases. “I hope that you aren’t suggesting that I don’t have my own mind or that I couldn’t think independently,” she countered.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham praised Barrett for shattering a “concrete barrier around conservative women” who he said had been marginalized for their beliefs.
“This is the first time in American history that we’ve nominated a woman who is unashamedly pro-life and embraces her faith without apology,” he said. “And she is going to the court.”