WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Democratic senators showed up to the second day of confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett on Tuesday prepared to challenge President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick.
“Do you agree with Justice (Antonin) Scalia’s view that Roe was wrongly decided?” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) asked Barrett on Tuesday.
Feinstein grilled Barrett on how she’ll decide cases on issues from abortion to Obamacare. Barrett didn’t budge.
“If I express a view on a precedent one way or another – whether I say I love it or I hate it – it signals to litigants that I may tilt one way or another in a pending case,” Barrett said.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) asked Barrett if she would recuse herself from any case regarding the 2020 election.
“Let me be clear, I have made no commitment – not in the senate, not over at the White House – of how I would decide any case,” Barrett answered.
Barrett told the senators, and the Americans watching at home, that after reaching the Supreme Court, she doesn’t plan to fill a pre-existing conservative mold.
“If I’m confirmed, you would not be getting Justice Scalia,” she said. “You would be getting Justice Barrett.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) got a bit more personal with his questions for the nominee, asking her how it feels to be nominated for the Supreme Court.
“I don’t think it’s any secret to any of you or to the American people that this is a really difficult, some might say excruciating, process,” Barrett answered.
She added, “what sane person would go through that if there wasn’t a benefit on the other side?”
Barrett will face two more days of questioning before the confirmation hearings wrap up.