Coney Barrett could do ‘enduring, explosive damage,’ Dem senator says

Mary Margaret Olohan, DCNF

Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Tuesday afternoon that Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett could do “enduring, explosive damage” if she were to participate in a ruling involving the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Blumenthal told Barrett that he was “really disappointed” by her responses to Democratic lawmakers during Tuesday’s hearing on “the issue of whether you would purchase fate in a decision involving the upcoming election if you were confirmed.”

“I continue to believe that if you were to participate in a decision involving that election, it would do enduring, explosive damage to the court,” Blumenthal said.

“I think you know it would be wrong, not because of anything you have done. In fact, I am not raising the issue of whether you have done any sort of deal or commitment because of what Donald Trump has done and my Republican colleagues, because they have indelibly put at issue your integrity through their statements.”

Blumenthal said that President Donald Trump has indicated that he nominated Barrett so she can decide the election.

“He has been very clear and transparent,” Blumenthal said. “And the American people are not dumb. They are watching, and they are listening, and if you were to sit on this case, if it goes to the Supreme Court, the American people would lose faith and trust in the court itself. It would be a dagger at the heart of the court and our democracy, if this election is decided by the court rather than the American voters.”

Blumenthal did not give Barrett an opportunity to respond to his remarks, but Barrett told Republican Delaware Sen. Chris Coons earlier in the Tuesday hearing that she will commit to considering “all factors that are relevant to that question that requires recusal when there’s an appearance of bias, and there is case law under the statute.”

“In describing the recusal process of the Supreme Court, [former] Justice [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg said it is always done with consultation of the other justices,” Barrett said. “I promise you, if I were confirmed and if an election dispute arises, both of which are if’s, that I would very seriously undertake that process and consider every relevant factor. I can’t commit to you right now, but I do assure you of my integrity and I do assure you that I would take that question very seriously.”

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