President Donald Trump's third nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court in the past four years was approved by a unanimous panel of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.
The committee, which was boycotted by its 10 Democrat members, approved U.S. Circuit Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett in a 12-0 vote as the Dems weren't on the record. Barrett now heads to the full Senate for a confirmation vote, the first female jurist nominated to the high court by a Republican President since Sandra Day O'Connor in 1981.
Pro-gun groups, reacting to Barrett's record and statements on Second Amendment cases, welcomed the news.
“There is no question that a number of authoritarian states like California, New Jersey, and New York are violating the rights of the people on a range of issues from the right to bear arms outside their homes, to prohibitions on entire categories of protected arms and undue burdens meant to chill the exercise of fundamental rights,” said Firearms Policy Coalition Grassroots Director Richard Thomson. “With the advancement of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, we may be closer than ever to the Supreme Court tackling those key issues.”
On the other side of the Second Amendment debate, national gun control groups backed by billionaire former Democratic Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg said Barrett is wrong for the job in their eyes.
“Giving Judge Barrett a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court would put nearly every gun safety law at risk," said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action.
The full Senate could vote to confirm Barrett as soon as Monday. Should she make it to the court-- a likely prospect with GOP control of the chamber-- conservatives will hold a 6-3 majority on the bench. Polling by Gallup released this week found a majority of Americans support Barrett to filling the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last month.
Banner photo: Judge Amy Coney Barrett delivers remarks after President Donald J. Trump announced her as his nominee for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020, in the Rose Garden of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)