Harris blasts GOP for confirming Amy Coney Barrett: ‘We won’t forget this’

Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris admonished Senate Republicans for confirming Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Monday, vowing that Democrats “won’t forget” a move they have described as a power grab. 

“Today Republicans denied the will of the American people by confirming a Supreme Court justice through an illegitimate process — all in their effort to gut the Affordable Care Act and strip health care from millions with pre-existing conditions,” Harris said Monday minutes after Barrett was officially confirmed to the court. “We won’t forget this.”

Barrett was confirmed along a party-line vote on the Senate floor following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last month. 

Republicans spent her confirmation hearings praising Barrett for her experience as a federal judge and stated commitment to constitutional originalism. Democrats painted her as a danger to women’s reproductive rights and politically beholden to President Trump and his allies, an assertion GOP senators have widely rejected.

“I don’t see her overturning the decision in Roe v. Wade, based on — based on the weighting of the reliance factors,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican who had expressed wariness over the timing of the confirmation process so soon before an election but who voted for Barrett in the end.

During Barrett’s confirmation hearings, Harris, a former prosecutor and attorney general of California, grilled the justice about her stance on climate change. 

“Do you believe that climate change is happening and is threatening the air we breathe and the water we drink?” Harris asked Barrett. 

“I will not express a view on a matter of public policy, especially one that is politically controversial,” the justice responded. 

“Thank you Judge Barrett,” Harris said. “You’ve made your point clear that you believe it’s a debatable point.”

A ceremony swearing Barrett in is planned for Monday evening at The White House.