Democrats planning to boycott Senate Judiciary vote to advance Barrett nomination

Senate Judiciary Democrats, facing criticism from the left that they have not done more to question the legitimacy of the Supreme Court confirmation proceedings for Amy Coney Barrett, plan to take the extraordinary step of boycotting a key committee vote on Thursday.

"Judge Barrett deserves a vote and she will receive a vote", said Sen.

The Judiciary Committee, which is controlled by Republicans, is expected to change the rules if necessary to recommend Barrett's nomination to the full Senate. "Then, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that 'the American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice.' Now, Republicans have moved at breakneck speed to jam through this nominee, ignoring her troubling record and unprecedented evasions, and breaking longstanding committee rules to set tomorrow's vote".

Democrats have fiercely opposed Barrett, a federal appeals court judge whose confirmation by the Republican-led Senate would expand the top US judicial body's conservative majority to 6-3. Look, they have made a mockery of this process.

"So for them to talk about something being out of the norm of the Senate, it is hypocritical to put it really mildly".

Cognizant of their weakness as the minority party in the chamber, Senate Democrats have been trying to exact as high a political price as possible for the Republicans' rushed confirmation.

"This has been a sham process from the beginning", top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer and the committee's Democratic members said in a joint statement.

Two Republican senators on the panel, Mike Lee and Thom Tillis, tested positive for COVID-19 after attending the Rose Garden event where Trump announced Barrett as his nominee. Oral arguments in the latest suit against the ACA begin November 10, meaning that Barrett will likely be on the bench to hear them, based on the current clip at which Republicans are jamming the confirmation through.