Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination threatens your health, threatens your rights, & threatens our democracy. #WhatsAtStake https://t.co/RVkw48RVN0
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) October 12, 2020
Dick Blumenthal got the memo. And he ran with it.
Blumenthal, Connecticut’s senior U.S. senator, is among the members of the Judiciary Committee grilling Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett at confirmation hearings that began Monday.
Blumenthal and his fellow Democrats don’t have the votes to stop her confirmation. They do have the nationally amplified microphone to make their best case to American voters about why her nomination should translate to Democratic votes on Nov. 3.
To that end, Democrats are steering away from insulting Coney’s religious beliefs. And rather than focusing primarily on abortion — and the belief that she’d be the key vote to overturn Roe v. Wade — they’re focusing on two issues they consider home runs at the polls among swing voters: Health care. And gun control.
Blumenthal hammered away on both those issues Monday on the first day of the hearings.
He filled his social media feeds with stories of people dependent on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) who stand to lose coverage if the Supreme Court next month votes to repeal the law. Barrett — who has written critically about a previous decision that left the law in place — would be the decisive vote to declare it unconstitutional. The ACA consistently earns clear majority support in public-opinion polls.
In his questioning of Barrett, as well, Blumenthal brought up the stories of constituents like 10-year-old Connor, who has muscular dystrophy. Click here to see samples on his Twitter page and watch his statements in the video tweet at the top of this story.
“If [Amy Coney Barrett’s] views on the Second Amendment are adopted by the Supreme Court, it would imperil common-sense state laws…all around the country.”
— Brady | United Against Gun Violence (@bradybuzz) October 12, 2020
As @Everytown said: Thank you to @SenBlumenthal for highlighting these extreme threats. We must #BlockBarrett! #WeDissent pic.twitter.com/wd8gydGa9R
Blumenthal also called Barrett’s views on the Second Amendment “radical” and “activist.” Barrett has previously in a dissenting opinion criticized a position held by the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, that states can ban felons from owning guns. (She argued that the state needs to prove that the felons still pose a danger to the public.)
“If your views on the Second Amendment are adopted by the Supreme Court, it would imperil common-sense state laws like Connecticut’s all around the country,” Blumenthal told her during her turn at the microphone.
Finally, Blumenthal warned that if she’s confirmed, Barrett faces an immediate conflict of interest that endangers the American political system: She’d be in a position to rule on an effort by President Trump, who nominated her, to overturn election results if he’s not the winner. Trump has already threatened to seek such a ruling and characterized Barrett’s confirmation as crucial to his ability to prevail in such a legal challenge.
Failure to recuse herself from such a case would cause “explosive, enduring harm” to the court, Blumenthal warned. “You must recuse yourself.”
