Hirono, Blumenthal say they won’t meet with Amy Coney Barrett

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Amy Coney Barrett

Two Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee said they will not meet with Amy Coney Barrett -- President Trump’s pick to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.

Trump announced on Saturday evening that he intends to nominate Barrett to fill the vacancy on the nation’s highest court after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last week.

Democrats indicated that they will oppose Barrett’s nomination, citing her conservative credentials which they see as a threat to health care and abortion rights, while also arguing that it is too close to Election Day for Trump to nominate a justice.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee and will  play a role in confirmation hearings, said he would oppose her confirmation “as I would any nominee proposed as part of this illegitimate sham process, barely one month before an election as Americans are already casting their votes.”

"If Judge Barrett’s views become law, hundreds of millions of Americans living w/pre-existing conditions would lose access to their health care. In the middle of a pandemic, rushing confirmation of an extreme jurist who will decimate health care is unconscionable," he said on Twitter.

“I will refuse to treat this process as legitimate & will not meet with Judge Amy Coney Barrett,” he tweeted.

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, also said that she would not meet with Barrett when asked on CNN, although she said she would question her at the hearing.

“I will not be meeting with her, I will take the opportunity to question her when she is under oath,” she said.

Republicans are unlikely to be too concerned by Democrats not meeting with Barrett, having indicated they have the votes, both in the Senate Judiciary Committee and in the Senate chamber, to confirm Barrett along party lines before the election.

So far, only Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, have indicated they oppose moving forward with a confirmation before the election. Murkowski has since suggested she still may vote for the nominee.

With 53 votes in the Senate, there would need to be three Republican defections for there to be a tie, which would be broken then by Vice President Mike Pence.