Report: Democrats to boycott Amy Coney Barrett committee vote

Democrats say they will instead fill their seats with photos of those who would be most impacted if the Affordable Care Act is overturned

Amy Coney Barrett will likely make it to the Supreme Court as the Republicans have the simple majority and the Judiciary Committee majority for Monday’s confirmation vote. That does not mean that Democrats won’t take a stand on the controversial nominee.

According to the Huffington Post, Democrats at issue with Coney Barrett’s stance on the Affordable Care Act will protest by boycotting the Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Thursday.

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The potential protest underscores how worried many are about Coney Barrett’s future voting on various issues, including the ACA.

The outlet says that Democrats will instead be seating poster-size photos of Americans who would suffer without the Affordable Care Act, as they did during Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearing last week.

It is believed that Coney Barrett may be against at least some of the tenets of the ACA. In a law article in 2017, according to The New Yorker, the Notre Dame law professor and federal judge said she basically disagreed with Chief Justice John Roberts who cast the Court’s deciding vote in preserving the ACA in 2012.

That year, Roberts joined the liberals on the court in a challenge to the law which questioned the ACA’s mandate that “individuals shall buy insurance.”

This has led some Democrats to believe that Coney Barrett might be a deciding vote in a case that once again attempts to undercut the ACA that comes up right after her confirmation, reports CNN. On Nov. 10, California vs. Texas will go to the Supreme Court to decide whether or not the ACA will remain on the books.

Supreme Court Justice Nominee Amy Coney Barrett Meets With Senators Ahead Of Confirmation Vote
Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett meets with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) on Capitol Hill on October 21, 2020 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump nominated Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg after her death. (Photo by Jonathan Newton-Pool/Getty Images)

Though Coney Barrett has also said she is “not hostile” to the ACA, on a public radio station interview in Boston, she said she believed the dissenting judges had the “better legal argument,” according to CNN.

The Democrats plan to hold two press conferences, according to an aide who spoke to the Huffington Post, one on the Capitol steps and the other on the Supreme Court steps. During those conferences, they will explain their reasons for opposing the judge’s confirmation to the Court.

But even if a boycott does happen, there is little expected to derail Coney Barrett’s nomination, though 57% of Americans favor the Affordable Care Act and 61% of them don’t want the Supreme Court to overturn it, according to a CNN poll earlier this month.

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“We’ll be voting to confirm justice-to-be Barrett next Monday,” Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader said in his weekly press conference.

“And I think that will be another signature accomplishment in our effort to put on the courts, the federal courts, men and women who believe in a quaint notion that maybe the job of a judge is to actually follow the law.”

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