Judicial Commission Advances Appointment of Amy Barret to Supreme Court

Bipartisan hug without masks at Barrett 1:16 hearing

(CNN) -

The Senate Judiciary committee voted Thursday to advance the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, setting a final vote for her confirmation for next Monday.

Although the vote was 12-0, the 10 Democratic senators on the panel boycotted the vote and filled their seats with photographs of people who rely on the Affordable Care Act - also known as Obamacare -, drawing attention to a upcoming case on the constitutionality of the health care law.

"This has been a bogus process from the beginning," Senate Democrats wrote in a statement.

"Amid a global pandemic and ongoing elections, Republicans are rushing to confirm a Supreme Court judge to deprive millions of medical care and execute the extreme and deeply unpopular agenda that they have failed to pass in Congress."

• This is what you should know about the third day of hearings to Amy Coney Barrett for confirmation US Supreme Court

Why can Barrett turn the Supreme Court around?

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Barrett, 48, will give the Conservatives a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court.

This will influence a variety of issues that could arise, including Americans' personal privacy rights, campaign finance regulation, affirmative action in higher education, public assistance for religious, schools, environmental and labor regulations, ACA and any potential disputes regarding the 2020 election. If Barrett is confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice, and serves as long as her predecessor, the late Liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she will sit on Court for nearly four decades.

Voting in the Barrett Senate

Senate Judiciary committee chair Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said the Republican Party is moving forward with Thursday's vote despite Democratic opposition.

Republicans are seeking to establish a confirmation vote Monday in the full Senate and one of the fastest nomination procedures in modern times.

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"Justice Amy Coney Barrett is one of the most highly qualified individuals ever to be nominated to be a Deputy Justice of the Supreme Court," Graham said in a statement.

"She will faithfully apply the law to the facts without a personal agenda and fully understands the difference between an impartial judge and a political activist."

Democrats accused Graham of breaking a Judicial commission rule on Thursday, which states that two members of the minority party must be present "for the purpose of conducting business transactions."

But Republicans refuted another Senate rule, which supersedes it, and states that only a majority of the commission must be physically present to report on the appointee.

Last week, the appellate court judge and former professor at the University of Notre Dame, testified before the Judicial commission and repeatedly refused to give a preview of how it would rule in specific cases, citing the precedent set by nominees prior to the Supreme Court.

But he described conservative judge Antonin Scalia, his former boss, as his "mentor," and said he shared a similar textualist and originalist approach to interpreting the law.

• ANALYSIS |

  The fight for a new judge on the Supreme Court adds a surprising twist to a presidential election in crisis

Amy Coney Barrett responds to questions from Democrats 6:13

The Republican Strategy for the Supreme Court

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has led the Republican strategy to transform the judiciary, confirming more than 200 nominees since President Donald Trump took office.

In the spring of 2016, McConnell blocked Obama's candidate for Scalia's vacant seat, Judge Merrick Garland, arguing that since it was an election year, the country should pick a new president to choose the life appointment.

But in 2020, another election year, it has taken the Senate about a month to consider Barrett's nomination, half the average time, continuing the process even as millions of Americans had already started voting.

McConnell has said he would break with tradition for a Republican-controlled Senate not to confirm a Republican presidential candidate.

Last week, Republicans blocked a motion by Senate Democrats to postpone nomination procedures indefinitely, dismissing their charges of hypocrisy.

McConnell said Republicans planned to confirm Barrett by the end of the month.

"We have the votes," he said.

- CNN's Manu Raju and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.

Amy Coney Barrett United States Supreme Court