Pelosi claims Amy Coney Barrett 'an illegitimate Supreme Court justice'

Joe Concha
The Hill
Tue, 03 Nov 2020 02:12 UTC

© news.yahoo.com/Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images/KJN

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi • Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called Amy Coney Barrett "an illegitimate Supreme Court justice" during an Election Day news conference on Tuesday, just one week after Barrett was confirmed as President Trump's third Supreme Court pick.

"The president is installing an illegitimate Supreme Court justice just one week before the election, after 60 million Americans have voted, who will dismantle the ACA, and won't say, either way, when asked, by Sen. [Dianne] Feinstein [D-Calif.], do you think Medicare is constitutional? She said she really couldn't say."

Comment: The Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on November 10 in a case that could overturn part or all of the Affordable Care Act. The justices are expected to release their opinion sometime in the first six months of 2021.

The GOP-led Senate confirmed Barrett in a largely party-line 52-48 vote last week, with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) the only member to buck their party. Barrett became the third justice confirmed under Trump in the past four years, giving conservatives a 6-3 super majority on the high court.

Democrats opposed Barrett's nomination while accusing the GOP of hypocrisy for pushing through the Supreme Court pick within weeks of the election after previously blocking former President Obama's nominee Merrick Garland months before the presidential election in 2016.

A Gallup poll last week showed that 51 percent of Americans supported Barrett filling the vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last month, while 46 percent of U.S. adults did not want Barrett to be seated.

Pelosi's comments come after the Democratic leader said last week that she doesn't trust the Supreme Court "one bit."

"I don't trust the Supreme Court one bit," Pelosi told HuffPost in an interview published on Oct. 30. "Even the court cases they have decided in our favor, they said they will revisit, and it's just appalling."

Comment: Here's what else snippy Pelosi had to say:

The House speaker also snapped at a reporter who asked whether she expects the next Congress to be her last term serving as speaker, which would honor a pledge she made in 2018 to House Democrats who opposed her bid for speaker.

"That's the least important question you could ask today," Pelosi responded. "The fate of our nation, the soul of our nation is at stake in this election." Pelosi said the conversation was about

"plans for our country for our future, for our children, not about my plans. One of these days I will let you know what my plans are, when it is appropriate and when it matters. It doesn't matter right now."

The Supreme Court could also end up deciding Tuesday's election should close swing state results or absentee ballot controversies end up before the justices.