Democrats tag Barrett confirmation push as “court packing”

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Democrat senators tagged GOP efforts to confirm Judge Amy Cony Barrett’s appointment to the Supreme Court as “court packing.”
• Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) accused the Republicans of court packing instead of passing a COVID-19 relief package.
• President Donald Trump said that he hopes that Barrett’s confirmation would bring favor to him in future court rulings.

Democratic senators on Sunday described the GOP efforts to confirm a new Supreme Court justice as ballots are being cast for the 2020 presidential election as “court packing.”

The criticisms came following the Capitol Hill’s preparation on Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearings, which will begin on Monday. Barrett was chosen by Trump to replace the vacancy left by the late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Raising the same comments made by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Saturday, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said during his Sunday interview with Fox News that Republicans are enforcing court packing in their attempt to confirm Barrett.

“Instead of passing a COVID relief package that will help millions of Americans who are unemployed, who have been infected, whose businesses or employers have closed, we’re focusing on jamming through Justice Barrett,” Coons said. “I think this constitutes court packing and, frankly, I think that’s the implication of what Joe Biden was saying.”

Based on the recent polls released by FiveThirtyEight, majority of US adults thought that the presidential winner in the November 3rd election should be the one to pick a new justice to fill the post of Ginsburg.

In recent weeks, Democrats publicly described Barrett’s confirmation as “court packing” as they go against the GOP-dominated Senate who committed to seat her before Election Day.

They are also using the term as a way of criticizing the Republican’s holistic movement of making lifetime judicial appointments for conservative loyalists who are not keen on issues of racial justice, reproductive rights, and LGBTQ rights.

“The American people have watched the Republicans packing the court for the past three and a half years, and they brag about it,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on NBC’s Meet The Press, adding that they are “dealing with people on the court, packing into the court, with little or no qualifications for a long time.”

“The [Democratic] base is correct in believing that the Republicans changed the rules four years ago. Now they’ve completely reversed themselves,” he continued.

A term commonly linked to efforts of expanding the number of judges on a court, court packing also refers to efforts of ensuring courts would have a particular and firm ideological bent.

As he trails behind Biden in polls in key battleground states, Trump said he hopes that Barrett, if confirmed, could rule in favor of his voting rights if he would bring them to the Supreme Court.

Source: AOL.com