Report: It will be Judge Barrett

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 04:29 PM PDT

(Paul Mirengoff)
The Wall Street Journal reports that President Trump has decided to nominate Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. According to the Journal, Trump has so informed “congressional Republicans and others.” So far, Trump has only confirmed that he has made up his mind on a pick.

The announcement will be made tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. I suppose the president’s thinking could change between now and than, but it looks like Judge Barrett will get the nod.

She is a superstar. She’s also quite conservative, which is great.

No Democrat will support Barrett and it seems unlikely that Sens. Collins and Murkowski will either. They will fear that she’d be a vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.

There’s no reason to believe that any other Republican Senator will balk, but you never know with that caucus.

Democrats and their operatives will scramble to find someone who will allege an indiscretion Barrett committed in her youth. If the Dems can come up with enough to delay the confirmation express until after the election, that might be enough to derail it. The landscape might look very different after November 3.

However, Barrett seems like as straight an arrow as one can find. It’s hard to picture her as a party animal. So I don’t have worries on that front, but again, you never know.

Thank Dems for the Barrett Nomination

Posted: 25 Sep 2020 04:27 PM PDT

(Steven Hayward)
Among the reasons President Trump has reportedly decided to appoint Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court is that the Democrats already attempted to “Bork” her, but failed, and disgraced themselves in the process while elevating her public profile.

Think I exaggerate? Check out this Tweet from Center for American Progress far-leftist Ian Millhiser:

You can expect a lot of news reports over the next few days to re-run Sen. Dianne Feinstein attacking Barrett’s Catholic faith in Barrett’s confirmation hearings to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals three years ago. It will not be a good look for Democrats if they reprise this attack, but I’m betting they won’t be able to help themselves. I hope Barrett quotes John F. Kennedy back to them.

There is apparently a lot of rumbling among liberals along Millhiser’s lines. Politico reported Thursday:

Democrats worry Feinstein can’t handle Supreme Court battle

As the Senate prepares for yet another brutal Supreme Court nomination fight, one particularly sensitive issue is creating apprehension among Democrats: what to do with 87-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee.

Feinstein, the oldest member of the Senate, is widely respected by senators in both parties, but she has noticeably slowed in recent years. Interviews with more than a dozen Democratic senators and aides show widespread concern over whether the California Democrat is capable of leading the aggressive effort Democrats need against whoever President Donald Trump picks to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Feinstein sometimes gets confused by reporters’ questions, or will offer different answers to the same question depending on where or when she’s asked. Her appearance is frail. And Feinstein’s genteel demeanor, which seems like it belongs to a bygone Senate era, can lead to trouble with an increasingly hard-line Democratic base uninterested in collegiality or bipartisan platitudes.

Just this week, Feinstein infuriated progressives after declaring her opposition to ending the Senate’s legislative filibuster — a top goal of party activists if Democrats win full control of the Congress and White House in November. Some on the left called on her to resign over the comments, although other Democratic moderates have expressed similar views. . .

A Democratic senator, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said a group of Feinstein’s colleagues want Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) or Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) to serve as the top Democrat on the Judiciary panel for the upcoming nomination hearings, which are expected to be extraordinarily contentious. This senator is worried that potential missteps by Feinstein could cost Democrats seats.

“She’s not sure what she’s doing,” the Democratic senator said of Feinstein. “If you take a look at Kavanaugh, we may be short two senators because of that. And if this gets [messed] up, it may be the same result.”

Order up some extra popcorn.

P.S. Remember that Kamala Harris is on the Judiciary Committee. Chances she’ll grandstand bigly in the Barrett hearings: 100%.