Senate Judiciary Committee Unanimously Advances Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court Nomination Amid Boycott by Democrats

What’s the story?

• The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted 12-0 to advance Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate with a recommendation to confirm her, as Democratic senators boycotted proceedings and left the 12 Republican senators to consider the nominee. 
• The vote was held over from last Thursday’s committee meeting as is customary, and the committee had been scheduled to vote at around 1pm Eastern, but because Democrats didn’t show up, Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was able to make a successful unanimous consent request to hold the vote earlier in the day. He chided Democrats for caring more about political theater than the nominee’s qualifications:

“How could anybody in their right mind, after listening to Judge Barrett, not understand she’s not just qualified, she’s incredibly qualified. So qualifications apparently don’t matter anymore. It’s about trying to create a situation for your favor, politically.”

• Rather than attending the proceedings and casting a vote against the nominee, committee Democrats held a press conference outside the Supreme Court with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who explained: 

“This is not a decision the members have taken lightly, but a Republican majority has left us no choice. We are boycotting this illegitimate hearing. The nomination of Amy Coney Barrett is the most illegitimate process I have ever witnessed in the Senate, and her potential confirmation will have dire, dire consequences for the Senate, the Supreme Court, and our entire country for generations to come.”

What’s next for Judge Barrett’s nomination?

• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said, “We’ll be voting to confirm Justice-to-be Barrett next Monday.” For that timeline to play out, McConnell will file a cloture motion on Barrett’s nomination on Friday. The motion will have to “ripen” for an intervening day before it can receive a vote, so in this case the intervening day is Saturday. 
• At a time to-be-announced on Sunday, the Senate will vote to “invoke” the cloture motion and limit further debate on Judge Barrett’s nomination to 30 hours. It only takes a simple majority to invoke cloture on nominations, and there are at least 51 votes among Senate Republicans in favor of Barrett’s nomination.
• The timing of Judge Barrett’s confirmation vote on Monday will depend on the timing of Sunday’s procedural vote, but will likely occur in the late afternoon or evening.

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— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Barrett: White House via Flickr / Public Domain | Graham: Gage Skidmore via Flickr / Creative Commons)