In Partisan Vote, Amy Coney Barrett Confirmed as Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Replacement on U.S. Supreme Court

Amy Coney Barrett has been con­firmed as a jus­tice of the Supreme Court of the United States, fill­ing the vacan­cy cre­at­ed by the death of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Shortly after her con­fir­ma­tion by the U.S. Senate on October 26, 2020, Justice Clarence Thomas admin­is­tered the oath of office to Barrett in an out­door cer­e­mo­ny on the South Lawn of the White House. 

Barrett’s con­fir­ma­tion came just 30 days after her nom­i­na­tion, the short­est peri­od between nom­i­na­tion and con­fir­ma­tion of a Supreme Court jus­tice since the unan­i­mous con­fir­ma­tion of Justice John Paul Stevens in 1975. But unlike the broad con­sen­sus accom­pa­ny­ing Stevens’ ascen­sion to the Court, Barrett was con­firmed by a 52 – 48 par­ty-line vote amidst charges of court-stack­ing by con­ser­v­a­tive law­mak­ers. Senator Susan Collins of Maine was the only Republican to vote against the confirmation. 

Barrett is the third jus­tice President Donald Trump has appoint­ed to the Supreme Court, solid­i­fy­ing a 6 – 3 con­ser­v­a­tive major­i­ty on the Court and shift­ing the Court far­ther to the right. The pres­i­dent laud­ed the con­fir­ma­tion — which came just eight days before a pres­i­den­tial elec­tion in which court chal­lenges to mail and absen­tee vot­ing, vot­er sup­pres­sion, and vot­er intim­i­da­tion are expect­ed to reach the Court — call­ing it ​“a momen­tous day for America.”

Democrats and social jus­tice advo­cates blast­ed the con­fir­ma­tion as a sub­ver­sion of American democ­ra­cy, con­trast­ing it with the Republican-con­trolled Senate’s refusal to con­sid­er President Barack Obama’s nom­i­na­tion of Merrick Garland fol­low­ing the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016. At that time, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R‑KY) jus­ti­fied block­ing Garland’s appoint­ment on the grounds that the deci­sion on who fills an elec­tion-year Court vacan­cy should be left to the voters.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D‑NY) derid­ed the expe­dit­ed con­fir­ma­tion process as a ​“cyn­i­cal pow­er grab.” “[T]here is no escap­ing this glar­ing hypocrisy,” he said. “[N]o tit-for-tat con­vo­lut­ed, dis­tort­ed ver­sion of his­to­ry will wipe away the stain that will exist for­ev­er with this Republican major­i­ty and with this Republican leader.” 

In a state­ment released to the media, American Constitution Society President Russ Feingold called Barrett’s con­fir­ma­tion ​“an unprece­dent­ed pow­er grab … [that] has dele­git­imized and dam­aged the United States Supreme Court.” 

“The Right has essen­tial­ly cap­tured our courts,” Feingold said, accus­ing Republicans of a ​“ruth­less court packing scheme.”

The Senate, led by McConnell, vot­ed to ter­mi­nate debate on Barrett’s con­fir­ma­tion on Sunday. Senators Murkowski (R‑AK) and Collins were the only Republicans to not vote for clo­ture. Previously, Democrats had boy­cotted the con­fir­ma­tion process in the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Although Vice President Mike Pence had planned to be present for Barrett’s swear­ing-in cer­e­mo­ny, he attend­ed remote­ly after mul­ti­ple mem­bers of his staff test­ed pos­i­tive for the coronavirus.