Jennifer Haberkorn
Oct. 26, 2020
The Senate on Monday confirmed Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in the most partisan confirmation vote for a justice in modern American history, securing a 6-3 conservative majority widely expected to expand gun rights and permit new restrictions on abortion.
No Democratic senator supported Barrett’s confirmation — the first time since the mid-1800s that a Supreme Court nominee has not received any votes from the opposing party. The final vote was 52-48.
Barrett, who will take the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just days before the presidential election and after millions of Americans have already cast their ballots, is scheduled to be sworn in by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in a private ceremony Tuesday at the Supreme Court, the court announced. She took a separate constitutional oath in a ceremony with Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday evening at the White House.
Hoping to galvanize voters before the Nov. 3 election, Republican senators pushed the nomination through at a pace unmatched in 45 years.
But with Barrett’s confirmation coming four years after Republicans refused to consider President Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, during an election year, Democrats predicted a backlash for what they viewed as a second Supreme Court seat snatched by Republicans.
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