WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) spoke at a press conference alongside Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, emphasizing what’s at stake with Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination.  

On health care, Sen. Coons said, “like all of us, I brought a picture of a real person for whom the consequences of what's on the [Supreme Court] docket are very real. Just a week after the election, the Supreme Court will hear another constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care Act long settled eight years ago. In my case, Carrie from Middletown, with a pre-existing condition, a small business owner, someone who can't get access to quality affordable health care if the Affordable Care Act is overturned.”

On the timing of this confirmation, Sen. Coons said, “in the middle of a pandemic, where 8 million Americans have been infected and more than 220,000 have lost their lives, we should instead be negotiating a robust package of pandemic relief.” Sen. Coons continued, “the Republicans have insisted on breaking the example they set just four years ago of refusing to move a qualified nominee in the midst of an election.”

On Judge Barrett’s record, Sen. Coons said, “her writings and her record show in Judge Barrett a judge willing to go farther to the right than even Justice Scalia, who she's claimed as a mentor and a model, and to reach back, reconsider, and possibly overturn decisions that she and other conservative justices think were wrongly decided.”

Sen. Coons concluded, “so folks, they may be shrouded in mist right now but I hope I've helped make it clear as have all the Democrats standing behind me, we were not over in the Judiciary Committee markup this morning because we wanted to be clear what was on the agenda, what is on the docket. This is personal. It's about long settled rights for millions and millions of Americans. In the middle of this pandemic, we should not be racing for the Republicans to confirm this partisan nominee who puts at risk hundreds of cases long settled. We should be delivering relief to the American people.”

Full video is available here. Sen. Coons’ remarks, as delivered, are provided below.

“Good morning. This morning, the Capitol and the Supreme Court are shrouded in mist and fog. It's not clear so let us help clear it up because sometimes the talk of votes and committees of quorum and filibusters here in the Capitol, in the Senate, is a little hazy for the American people and sometimes tough to follow. But why we're here on these steps and what this is all about is what is on the docket. On the agenda this morning, on the Senate Judiciary Committee, was moving the nomination of Judge Barrett to the floor of the Senate, and as my colleagues have said now several times, the only way the Republican majority was able to do this was by breaking the rules of the committee. We were not there and we were not part of that vote because after the confirmation hearings that have happened, it is abundantly clear that in the middle of a pandemic, where 8 million Americans have been infected and more than 220,000 have lost their lives, we should instead be negotiating a robust package of pandemic relief and the Republicans have insisted on breaking the example they set just four years ago of refusing to move a qualified nominee in the midst of an election. 

“Well folks, we’re in the midst of an election. Tens of millions of Americans are already voting and we participated in the hearings so that we could ask Judge Barrett, so we could get clear for the American people what's on the docket. Like all of us, I brought a picture of a real person for whom the consequences of what's on the docket are very real. Just a week after the election, the Supreme Court will hear another constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care Act long settled eight years ago. In my case, Carrie from Middletown, with a pre-existing condition, a small business owner, someone who can't get access to quality affordable health care if the Affordable Care Act is overturned. And, in the confirmation process, I asked Judge Barrett, “will you recuse yourself if this rushed and partisan unprecedented process results in putting you in that Court just in time to decide cases that arise from this election?” Well, she hemmed and hawed. She would not commit to recusing herself from a decision that would hand the election to Donald Trump. 

“Why is this even an issue? Because of what Donald Trump, President Trump himself has said. Over and over, President Trump has said, I want her rushed through so that a judge can sit on the Court and overturn the ACA. I want her rushed through so she can decide the election. And every member of the Republican majority, in the Judiciary Committee and in this Capitol behind me, has over and over voted to overturn the Affordable Care Act. This isn't about what Judge Barrett said in her confirmation hearings because she mostly wouldn't answer. It's about what we all know is on the agenda and is on the docket. 

“I asked Judge Barrett if she would simply confirm, as several conservative justices before her have, that the right to privacy first recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut decades ago in 1965 was settled, was safe, was secure, was the sort of right that Americans can know is not on the docket and is not up for reconsideration. And unlike justices both progressive and conservative before her, she would not say so. Why does that concern me? Because her writings and her record show in Judge Barrett a judge willing to go farther to the right than even Justice Scalia, who she's claimed as a mentor and a model, and to reach back, reconsider, and possibly overturn decisions that she and other conservative justices think were wrongly decided. What does that mean might be on the docket? The whole line of cases that recognize privacy, the right to love, the right to marry, Obergefell decided just five years ago. And don't listen to me. Justices Alito and Thomas just weeks ago raised their hand and said we should reach back and reconsider. 

“So folks, they may be shrouded in mist right now, but I hope I've helped make it clear as have all the Democrats standing behind me, we were not over in the Judiciary Committee markup this morning because we wanted to be clear what was on the agenda, what is on the docket. This is personal. It's about long settled rights for millions and millions of Americans. In the middle of this pandemic, we should not be racing for the Republicans to confirm this partisan nominee who puts at risk hundreds of cases long settled. We should be delivering relief to the American people.”

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