Democratic White House candidate Joe Biden on Saturday (September 26) called on the US Senate not to vote on the nomination of Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court ahead of the November 3 presidential election.
“The Senate should not pronounce on this vacancy” created by the death of progressive judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg “Until the Americans have chosen their next president and their next Congress”, he said in a statement a few minutes after the announcement of the appointment by Donald Trump.
The Republican President predicted that the Republican-majority Senate would “Quickly” confirm this choice. According to American media, the hearings are due to start on October 12 for a vote before the presidential election.
Joe Biden noted that Judge Barrett had marked his “Disagree with the Supreme Court decision in favor of maintaining” Obamacare, the health insurance law passed when he himself was vice-president. “President Trump has been trying for four years to throw away” Obamacare, but “On two occasions the Supreme Court validated the law by saying that it was constitutional”, said the Democrat. “But even now, in the midst of a global pandemic, the Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to strike down the entire law”, he lamented.
A vote “in the weeks to come”
In the suburb of Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, where the former real estate mogul will be holding a campaign rally tonight, the announcement of the appointment, broadcast on the big screen in front of the hundreds of people already present, was greeted enthusiastic cheers and applause from the president’s supporters. “USA, USA, USA”, chanted the crowd just after the announcement.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says Senate will vote ” in the coming weeks “ on Barrett’s confirmation, claiming that Trump “Could not have made a better decision” by appointing the judge of the court of appeal.