Blumenthal Statement on the Nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement today after President Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court. Judge Barrett currently serves on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

“I will oppose the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, as I would any nominee proposed as part of this illegitimate sham process, barely one month before an election as Americans are already casting their votes. The American people deserve a voice in this hugely consequential decision.”

“Judge Barrett’s views would harm real lives – real people – in real ways, from children with pre-existing conditions to women who just want to be able to decide when and how to have a family. I’m fighting for them.”

“Judge Barrett, like any Trump nominee, has already been vetted and screened to meet two tests: a commitment to striking down the Affordable Care Act and to overturning Roe v. Wade. Judge Barrett has criticized past decisions protecting access to healthcare, shown hostility to reproductive freedoms, and expressed a willingness to overturn settled Supreme Court precedent that does not align with her extreme views. If Judge Barrett’s views become law, hundreds of millions of Americans living with pre-existing conditions would lose access to their health care. In the middle of a global pandemic that has claimed more than two hundred thousand American lives, rushing confirmation of an extreme jurist who will decimate healthcare is unconscionable.”

“I refuse to treat this process as legitimate and will not meet with Judge Barrett.”