Barrett: Won't be 'used as a pawn' over election

Looming health care and election battles in the Supreme Court dominated questions as nominee Amy Coney Barrett faced her first day's worth of questions Tuesday from Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

With public attendance limited by the coronavirus pandemic and Democrats staying focused on a health care message just three weeks ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election, the back and forth was serious, disciplined and mostly uninterrupted.

Barrett repeatedly declined to give her personal views on issues that could come before the court, or to preview how she might rule.

Committee Democrats, with virtually no power to stop Barrett's confirmation, did some subject-changing of their own.

They consistently linked the nomination to the coronavirus pandemic, criticizing the safety precautions taken by Republicans and noting that the court, with Barrett on it, could rule to remove health care protections.

Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware said the Affordable Care Act was on the ballot and on the docket. "This is not an abstract academic argument, it's one that will have real life consequences," he said.

Among the issues she declined to weigh in on was the upcoming election. Barrett said she could not give an opinion on whether she would recuse herself from any election-related litigation involving President Donald Trump, who said as he nominated her that he wanted the full nine justices in place ahead of any possible election decisions.

"I want to be very clear for the record and to all members of this committee that no matter what anyone else may think or expect," Barrett said, "I haven't even written anything that I would think anybody could reasonably say, oh this is how she might resolve an election dispute."

"I certainly hope that all members of the committee have more confidence in my integrity than to think that I would allow myself to be used as a pawn to decide this election for the American people," she said.

Barrett gave a commitment to also weigh issues of the appearance of bias if such a case came before her.

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