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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday set an Oct. 22 vote on Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination as Republicans remained on track to confirm President Donald Trump’s pick before the Nov. 3 election.
Thursday’s session is without Barrett after two long days of public testimony in which she stressed that she would be her own judge and sought to create distance between herself and past positions critical of abortion, the Affordable Care Act and other issues.
Her confirmation to take the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg seems inevitable, as even some Senate Democrats acknowledged.
Sen, Lindsey Graham pushed past Democratic objections to set the panel’s Oct. 22 vote on recommending her confirmation, even before final witnesses testify before and against her nomination.
“This is a sham,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
In the minority, Democrats acknowledge there is little they can do stop them from locking a conservative majority on the court for years to come. The shift would cement a 6-3 conservative majority on the court and would be the most pronounced ideological change in 30 years, from the liberal icon to the conservative appeals court judge.
Facing almost 20 hours of questions from senators, the 48-year-old judge was careful not to take on the president who nominated her and sought to separate herself from writings on controversial subjects when she was an academic.
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