US President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett has given no commitments to the White House on how she would rule on Obamacare or election-related disputes and declined to tell senators whether she believes landmark rulings .
Judge Barrett opted not to say whether she would step aside from taking part in a major Obamacare case to be argued on 10 November or in any disputes arising from the 3 November election - as Democrats have requested - as she answered questions for the first time on day two of her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing.
The marathon questioning gave the conservative US appellate judge a chance to respond to Democrats who oppose her because they fear she will cast a decisive vote in striking down the 2010 healthcare law formally called the Affordable Care Act and its protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
“I am not here on a mission to destroy the Affordable Care Act,” Judge Barrett said. “I’m just here to apply the law and adhere to the rule of law.”
Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett speaks during her confirmation hearing. Source: AAP
Mr Trump has asked the Senate, controlled by his fellow Republicans, to confirm Barrett before Election Day. Mr Trump has said he expects the Supreme Court to decide the election’s outcome as he faces Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
Jude Barrett said no one at the White House sought a commitment from her on how she would rule on that or any issue.
“No one has elicited from me any commitment in a case or even brought up a commitment in a case. I am 100 per cent committed to judicial independence from political pressure,” she said.
While Democrats were persistent in their questioning, the hearing retained a respectful tone and Barrett remained even-tempered while nimbly sidestepping questions on her views on abortion, LGBTIQ+ rights, gun control and voting rights.
In the Obamacare case, Mr Trump and Republican-led states are seeking to invalidate the law. Judge Barrett said the case centres upon a different legal issue than two previous Supreme Court rulings that upheld Obamacare that she has criticised.
The law, signed by Trump’s Democratic predecessor Barack Obama, has enabled millions of Americans to obtain medical coverage. Democrats have blasted Mr Trump for trying to kill Obamacare amid a deadly pandemic.
In declining to commit to stepping aside on politically charged cases - having been nominated so near to the 3 November election - Judge Barrett said she would follow rules giving justices the final say on recusal amid questions about impartiality.
Republicans have a 53-47 Senate majority, making Judge Barrett’s confirmation a virtual certainty. If confirmed, Judge Barrett, 48, would give conservatives a 6-3 Supreme Court majority. She is Mr Trump’s third Supreme Court appointment.
Abortion rights advocates fear she would vote to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalised abortion nationwide. Asked about the ruling, Judge Barrett said she would consider the usual factors on whether to overturn a precedent.
“Judges can’t just wake up one day and say, ‘I have an agenda, I like guns, I hate guns, I like abortion, I hate abortion,’ and walk in like a royal queen and impose, you know, their will on the world,” Judge Barrett said.
But she indicated Roe v. Wade was not a “super-precedent” that could never potentially be overturned.
“I’m answering a lot of questions about Roe, which I think indicates Roe does not fall in that category. Scholars across the spectrum say that doesn’t mean that Roe should be overruled, but descriptively it does mean it is not a case that everyone has accepted,” Judge Barrett said.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the panel’s top Democrat, asked Judge Barrett whether she agreed with her mentor, the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and should be overturned.
After Judge Barrett sidestepped, Senator Feinstein told her that “it’s distressing not to get a straight answer.”
Judge Barrett, a devout Catholic and a favourite of religious conservatives, said she could set aside her religious beliefs in making judicial decisions.
“I do see as distinct my personal moral religious views, and my task of applying laws as a judge,” Judge Barrett said, adding that she expected that as a nominee her religious faith would be “caricatured.”
Judge Barrett also declined to say whether she agreed with Justice Scalia that the 2015 Supreme Court Obergefell v. Hodges ruling legalising gay marriage nationwide was wrongly decided.
“I have no agenda and I do want to be clear that I have never discriminated on the basis of sexual preference and I would not discriminate on the basis of sexual preference,” Judge Barrett said.
Asked about George Floyd, a Black man killed by Minneapolis police in May in an incident that triggered widespread protests, Judge Barrett called the issue “very, very personal for my family” because among her seven children, two - adopted from Haiti - are Black. Judge Barrett said she and one of her daughters, Vivian, cried together after seeing the video.
Judge Barrett said racism persists in America but declined to give her view on whether it is systemic or how it should be addressed.
Mr Trump nominated Judge Barrett to a lifetime post on the court on 26 September to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The four-day confirmation hearing is a key step before a full Senate vote due by the end of October on Judge Barrett’s confirmation.
