Blumenthal on the Senate Moving Ahead With Supreme Court Nomination: Might Does Not Make Right

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) shared stories from people across Connecticut who would be impacted by efforts to roll back gun violence prevention measures or overturn the Affordable Care Act, while urging Republicans to keep their word and hold the Supreme Court confirmation process until after the election. Blumenthal’s remarks came after he made a motion to indefinitely postpone a vote on Judge Barrett’s nomination.

Blumenthal called on his colleagues to consider the people whose lives are at stake with this nomination: “We couldn’t bring them to the hearing room as witnesses, we couldn’t have them be present here because we are in the midst of a pandemic and we should be dealing with that health crisis instead of considering the nomination of someone who has said in effect that our present health law should be struck down. But we put them in the room here and we saw their faces and voices.”

Blumenthal emphasized Judge Barrett’s previous opposition to gun violence prevention laws and spoke about, “Natalie Barden, whose brother was killed in Newtown and who wants common sense sensible gun violence prevention laws that this nominee has indicated she’s antithetical to uphold. Kristin and Michael Song, whose son perished as a result of the lack of safe storage of a firearm, and who want a safe storage law, Ethan’s Law, nationally. Veterans who want emergency risk protection orders so that their friends and fellow veterans do not commit suicide.”

Blumenthal again shared the story of Conner Curran, a ten-year-old resident of Ridgefield, Connecticut, living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal illness requiring tens of thousands of dollars in medical treatment every year. Conner’s disease is also a pre-existing condition, and without the protections of the Affordable Care Act, he could lose access to critical care. “The most important message from Conner Curran was what we wrote to this nominee Amy Coney Barrett,” said Blumenthal. “He said ‘doctors take an oath, first do no harm. Can you take that oath?’ Same question might be put to us, first do no harm. Can we take that oath?”

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