well let's begin today's program in
washington president trump's pick for
the supreme court
has been making her case if she's
approved amy coney barrett
will replace ruth bader ginsburg who
died in september
well in the last hour or so amy coney
barrett has addressed the senate
judiciary committee here's some of what
she said
i chose to accept the nomination because
i believe
deeply in the rule of law and the place
of the supreme court
in our nation i believe
americans of all backgrounds deserve an
independent
supreme court that interprets our
constitution and laws
as they are written and i believe i can
serve my country by playing that role
judge barrett's nomination has already
been controversial for a variety of
reasons the first is
the politics of it all bear in mind in
2016 republicans blocked a vote on
president obama's nominee because it was
an election year
but this year also an election year they
decided to go ahead despite this process
being far closer
to election day here's how the
democratic senator dick durbin
described what the debt republicans are
doing it is a shameless
self-serving venal reversal
why are senate republicans so afraid to
give the american people a voice about
the future of the supreme court
first they must doubt that donald trump
will be re-elected
second they want a 6-3 supreme court to
carry out a republican agenda that's
really not very popular with the
american people
well the republican chair of the
judiciary committee lindsey graham
defended the process the bottom line is
justice ginsburg when asked about this
several years ago
said that a president serves for four
years not three
there's nothing unconstitutional about
this process
this is a vacancy that's occurred
through a tragic loss of a great woman
and we're going to fill that vacancy
with another great woman
the bottom line here is that the senate
is doing its duty
constitutionally but of course the
senate didn't go through that process in
2016
when it could have chosen to do so now
the republican senators on this
committee
uh two of them have recently tested
positive for covid19
and the virus has caused a number of
questions about the process
here's joe biden's running mate senator
kamala harris
the decision to hold this hearing now is
reckless and places
facilities workers janitorial staff
and congressional aides and capital
police at risk
not to mention that while tens of
millions of americans are struggling to
pay their bills
the senate should be prioritizing
coronavirus relief and providing
financial support
to those families the next reason why
judge barrett's nomination is sensitive
is because of the delicate balance of
the court before ruth bader ginsburg
died
five justices had been appointed by
republican presidents for
by democratic ones if amy coney barrett
is successful
it would give the court a strong
conservative majority of six to three
social conservatives are keen on her
because of her record on issues such as
abortion
gay marriage gun rights and immigration
both sides of the argument though agree
that the stakes are very high and we saw
more evidence of that outside the
hearings today
these people are as you can see against
this particular nomination more broadly
democrats are warning
that her appointment would undermine the
future of health insurance for millions
of low-income americans
but there was a counter-protest as well
republicans see this as a chance to
replace a liberal justice with a
conservative
and to shape the nature of the court for
years to come well as well as being
conservative ms barrett is also known
for being
what's called an originalist this means
she believes judges should attempt to
interpret the words of the u.s
constitution
as its authors intended when they wrote
it rather than trying to put a modern
slant on them
here she is on this issue courts are not
designed
to solve every problem or right every
wrong in our public life
the policy decisions and value judgments
of government
must be made by the political branches
elected by and accountable to the people
the public should not expect courts to
do so and courts
should not try one law that may lie in
the balance is the affordable care act
also known as obamacare
hearings on the law of due in the court
in november so not long after the
presidential election
here's the democratic senator dianne
feinstein
care coverage for millions of americans
is at stake with this nomination
so over the course of these hearings my
colleagues and i will focus
on that subject we will examine the
consequences
if and that's a big if republicans
succeed
in rushing this nomination through the
senate before
the next president takes office now
these hearings will run for most of this
week miss barrett will be questioned
about her personal
and legal beliefs by the 22 members of
the judiciary committee
the committee will then deliberate it's
expected to vote by october the 22nd at
the latest
if the vote is in mrs farrell's favor
republicans hope to hold a full senate
vote on october the 23rd
or that could be pushed into the
following week either way this seems
very likely to go the way of the
republicans because they hold a slim
majority in the senate
and 51 votes do look secure
well watching that statement was the
bbc's laura trevelyan
in washington it was carefully
calibrated laura how did you assess what
ms barrett had to say yes
carefully calibrated but the key phrase
there that she believes americans of all
backgrounds
deserve a supreme court that's
independent and interprets our
constitution and laws
as they were written now that as you
were saying there is
clearly a pitch that she's an
originalist she's someone who believes
in the constitution as it was written
that is a signal to conservatives
and that she is someone who will take
issue with a more expansive
interpretation of the constitution
one for example that protects a broader
of array
of americans rights so when it comes to
abortion rights when it comes to an
expansive role of the state
uh conservatives hope that she will be
someone who will vote for a more
restrictive agenda and on november the
10th
the affordable care act comes in front
of the supreme court
she has criticized justice john roberts
for his vote in upholding obamacare
a few years back and clearly
conservative republicans are hoping
that she will be part of a vote to
strike down that act
and this was her opening statement we
then move on to questions later
in the week i was mentioning earlier
that you know the briefing is that
she'll be quizzed about her personal and
legal beliefs just help us understand a
little bit more about what that means
well i i think democrats will probably
steer clear of questioning her about her
faith
she is a catholic she's a member of a
charismatic
group joe biden the democratic
presidential nominee
warned democratic senators not to go
down that route and republicans have
been flagging up
all day that it's not fair to go after
somebody
based on their faith and to assume that
they're going to rule in a particular
way
because of that so i'd expect more that
democrats will ask her questions about
the fact that she doesn't
like the way justice roberts the chief
justice voted when he upheld
obamacare and they'll also ask her about
the fact that she's on the record
as saying that she doesn't like roe
versus wade that landmark federal law
that upheld the right to an abortion
all the senators get 30 minutes each to
question her and you can see that
democrats are trying to hammer this idea
that a vote for her will be the end of
the affordable care act