BARBARA SPRUNT
\nNPR<\/p>\n
The Senate has voted 52-48 to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, just about a week before Election Day and 30 days after\u00a0she was nominated<\/a>\u00a0by President Trump to fill the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.<\/p>\n In a White House ceremony following the vote Monday evening, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas administered the constitutional oath to Coney Barrett.<\/p>\n President Trump spoke at the event, thanking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and calling today a “momentous day” for America, the constitution and the rule of law. He also praised Barrett’s intellect and poise during the confirmation process. Several Republican senators were also in attendance.<\/p>\n Barrett must still take the judicial oath.<\/p>\n While Senate Democrats tried to slow down the confirmation process of Trump’s third Supreme Court nominee with various procedural maneuvers, the fact that Republicans control the Senate has always meant a Barrett confirmation was all but promised.<\/p>\n “The Senate is doing the right thing. We’re moving this nomination forward, and, colleagues, by tomorrow night we’ll have a new member of the United States Supreme Court,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on Sunday.<\/p>\n Democrats railed against the advancement of Barrett’s nomination so close to Election Day, after the Republican-led Senate in 2016 refused to hold hearings for then-President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, nearly eight months<\/a>\u00a0before that year’s election.<\/p>\n Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., labeled the nomination process a “cynical power grab.”<\/p>\n “Nearly every Republican in this chamber led by the majority leader four years ago refused to even consider the Supreme Court nomination of a Democratic president on the grounds … that we should wait until after the presidential election because the American people deserved a voice in the selection of their next justice,” he said on Sunday.<\/p>\n “My colleagues, there is no escaping this glaring hypocrisy. As I said before, no 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.”<\/p>\n Barrett’s nomination cleared a procedural hurdle Sunday afternoon when the Senate\u00a0voted to end debate<\/a>\u00a0on the nomination, days after Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee\u00a0boycotted\u00a0<\/a>a vote to advance Barrett’s nomination.<\/p>\n The only Republicans who voted against the cloture motion on Sunday were Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.<\/p>\n On Saturday, Murkowski previewed her intentions, saying she planned to vote against moving the nomination forward procedurally but would vote to confirm Barrett on Monday.<\/p>\n “While I oppose the process that led us to this point, I do not hold it against her, as an individual who has navigated the gauntlet with grace, skill and humility,” she said.<\/p>\n Collins faces a\u00a0tough reelection battle<\/a>\u00a0and said after Ginsburg’s death in September that whoever wins the presidential election\u00a0should fill the Supreme Court vacancy<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 48-year-old judge’s confirmation solidifies the court’s conservative majority, potentially shaping the future of abortion rights and health care law for generations.<\/p>\n During a campaign event in Tallahassee, Fla., on Saturday, Vice President Pence said he wanted to return to Capitol Hill in time for Monday’s vote.<\/p>\n “As vice president, I’m president of the Senate,” Pence said. “And I’m gonna be in the chair because I wouldn’t miss that vote for the world.”<\/p>\n He ultimately did not attend the vote in person. His presence would have been purely symbolic anyway, as it was not expected that Pence would have needed to cast a tie-breaking vote.<\/p>\n Democrats had pushed back against Pence’s plan in light of recent\u00a0positive coronavirus tests of two top staffers<\/a>\u00a0in Pence’s orbit, and they had similar concerns about Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., two of whose staffers have tested positive for the coronavirus.<\/p>\n Loeffler’s spokesperson on Saturday said the senator had tested negative for the coronavirus on Friday.<\/p>\n