Kamala Harris To Leave Campaign Trail For Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings

Topline

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), the Democratic nominee for vice president and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, will take a hiatus from campaigning to attend the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, setting up the already charged proceedings to be something of a campaign event.

Key Facts

Chief Critic

In his first attacks on Harris after her selection as vice presidential nominee in August, Trump said she was “nasty to a level that was just a horrible thing” in “the way she treated now Justice Kavanaugh” in 2018, adding, “I won’t forget that soon.”

Key Background

Republicans have made clear what they see as the obvious pitfall for Democrats in the hearings: Barrett’s religion. Dianne Feinstein earned condemnation from conservatives for confronting Barrett – a devout Catholic and a member of controversial Christian group People of Praise – during her 2017 appeals court confirmation hearings by telling her, “The dogma lives loudly within you.” In a letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) warned Democrats to refrain from “anti-Catholic, anti-Christian, anti-faith vitriol in the hearings to come,” adding “you owe it to the country.”

Crucial Quote

“I think it’s appropriate for people to ask her about how faithful she would be to the Constitution of the United States, whatever her faith. Does she believe in the precedent on the Supreme Court that has upheld the Affordable Care Act?” Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic, said Sunday, adding that it “doesn’t matter what her faith is, what religion she believes in.”

Big Number

57%. That’s the share of voters who said in a New York Times/Siena College poll they support the Affordable Care Act, compared to 38% who oppose it. Additionally, 50% said Biden would do a better job of confirming Supreme Court justices while 43% said Trump, and 56% said the winner of the election should appoint Ginsburg’s replacement.