Supreme Court Nominee Amy Barrett Could Reshape Judiciary for a Generation

Barrett's nomination could become a reckoning over abortion, an issue that has divided many Americans so bitterly for almost half a century.

Read also: Women Globally Lack Access to Contraceptives and Abortions during Lockdown

The idea of overturning or gutting Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion, has animated activists in both parties for decades.

Now, with the seemingly decisive shift in the court’s ideological makeup, Democrats hope their voters will turn out in droves because of their frustration with the Amy Coney Barrett pick.

“Justice Ginsburg must be turning over in her grave up in heaven, to see that the person they chose seems to be intent on undoing all the things that Ginsburg did,” Schumer said.

Trump has also increasingly embraced the high court — on which he will have had an outsize hand in reshaping — as an insurance policy in a close election.

“We don’t have to do it before, but I think this will be done before the election," Trump told reporters Saturday. “I think it’ll send a great signal to a lot of people.”

Increases in mail, absentee and early voting brought about by the coronavirus pandemic have already led to a flurry of election litigation, and both Trump and Biden have assembled armies of lawyers to continue the fight once vote-counting begins.

Read also: Joe Biden Assembles Legal Team Ahead of Divisive November Election

President Donald Trump has been open about tying his push to name a third justice to the court to a potentially drawn-out court fight to determine who will be sworn in on January 20, 2021.

“I think this will end up in the Supreme Court,” Trump said Wednesday of the election. “And I think it’s very important that we have nine justices.”

No Democratic senators are expected to vote to confirm Barrett before the election, even though some did support her in 2017.

Two Democrats still serving in the Senate who voted to confirm Barrett in 2017, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, now say it’s too close to the election to consider her nomination.

Meanwhile, outside conservative groups are planning to spend more than $25 million to support President Donald Trump Trump and his Supreme Court nominee.

The Judicial Crisis Network has organized a coalition that includes American First Policies, the Susan B. Anthony List, the Club for Growth and the group Catholic Vote to help confirm Barrett.

The Republican National Committee has launched a $10 million digital campaign of its own, in conjunction with Trump's reelection campaign. 

(Writer & Editor: Zeke Miller, Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick) 

Source: https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-ruth-bader-ginsburg-thurgood-marshall-antonin-scalia-judiciary-b91757a59ad248612f93e006075c0c50