President Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court has pro-abortion Senate Democrats in a real quandary. Late last month, Senate minority whip Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) candidly admitted, “We can slow it down . . . but we can’t stop the outcome.” Yet their radical base — keyed up after months of pandering and hotheaded rhetoric, and still smarting from its failure to stop Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation — expects them to pull out all the stops.
They can’t fault Barrett’s qualifications, which are exceptional. They evidently have found nothing to assail in her character. Despite their media allies’ best efforts, painting an accomplished scholar and nominee for the nation’s highest court — who happens to be a mother of seven — as a cult-programmed, submissive character from a dystopian novel is obviously untrue and embarrassing. Worst yet, questioning her motivesfor adopting two children from Haiti is a mean-spirited strategy that risks turning off suburban moms.
Running out of options, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D,. N.Y.) issued instructions to pivot to discuss health care, health care, and more health care. But at least one senator — Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) — seems to have missed the memo. For him and other extremists, it’s all about protecting abortion on demand at any time for any reason.
“This issue . . . is going to be a central focus of the hearing and a major point of contention in the confirmation process,” Blumenthal told media on Tuesday, citing 17 abortion-related cases working their way through the courts, any one of which the Supreme Court could opt to hear.
