Trump picks Amy Coney Barrett for Supreme Court

The on the Move panel discuss SCOTUS nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

Video Transcript

- We've been talking so much about the president's tax revelations, we haven't really talked so much about the Supreme Court nomination, and the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett coming out over the weekend. Rick, I know you've been watching that closely. I mean, it seems like this is on a real fast track, with just two Republican senators saying they would vote against it. What should we be looking for in this debate leading up to the election? Because as of now, Republicans have the votes to push this through.

Probably. I think Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation as a Supreme Court justice is a done deal. And I think it could even be anticlimactic, based on what we've been expecting in terms of the Supreme Court as an issue in the election. I see it as quite probable that she is confirmed as of election day and we're back to nine justices. So you know-- and the election takes place as we expect. You know, like we should remember that she's already been through a confirmation hearing for the appeals court, so any controversy in her background that was going to come out probably would have come out then.

Now of course, Supreme Court justices get more scrutiny, but she's been a pretty high-profile person for a long time, and I just don't think we're likely to hear anything that would disqualify her at this point. So you can get to the theatrics of how the Democrats on the committee when they have these hearings, how they're going to handle her. I think they're probably going to be respectful and try to stick to the substance because it's just bad optics to be seen attacking a woman who's the mother of seven kids. So I think she's-- I think she's probably going to sail through, even as uncomfortable as this makes Democrats.

- And to Rick's point, I think that, if anything, a lot of Democrats will probably try to avoid the minefield that could be the political implications of attacking this particular candidate. It does seem to be the case, based off of our conversation at the top of this show with Lee, talking about the idea that a lot of these Catholic voters are swing voters, and actually could be the populists that Biden stands to lose with a lot of support there. So if they do try to get baited into that conversation during these confirmation hearings, that could end up hurting the Democrats.

I do think that we still have to acknowledge that this is a remarkably fast process if they do manage to get this confirmation done before the election. The average amount of time, according to the Congressional Research Service, for a-- from the point of nomination to full confirmation of a Supreme Court justice is about 67 days. That's over two months. Obviously, with the official nomination being done just this Saturday, that two-month timeline would take us past the election. So it will be quite ambitious, but again, it does remain to be seen how the election could change that calculation.

- Rick, two questions on this. How do you think this sways the election? Does it at all? And also, what about this notion that we keep hearing about packing the court? I mean, is that a real-- of course, this all depends on the election results-- is that a realistic possibility?

- Well, first question first, I think this could actually benefit Democrats and Joe Biden a little bit, especially if the confirmation is done by election day. So we know that some conservatives, they do vote on Supreme Court issues, but if you now have a six to three conservative majority on the court, you're a little less motivated to vote for Trump so that he gets to appoint the next justice, and you're maybe a little more motivated, if you're a Democrat who is uncomfortable with that, to vote for Biden in the hope that he gets to nominate the next person.

And then this gets to your second question about expanding the court or packing the court. You know, I like to say I'm not a lawyer or legal expert, but this is just a matter of legislation. It's not in the Constitution that the Supreme Court has to consist of nine justices. It has consisted of different numbers before. And Democrats, yes, they could expand it to 11 or 13 justices.

I think that's a lot harder to do than you might think, because even if the Democrats had a small majority in the Senate, which is the best they can hope for, I think there probably would be at least some Democrats very uncomfortable about doing that. But if you take it down the road a few years and we do have rulings on things like Roe v Wade and on things like the Affordable Care Act, where the court seems to be going against what might be like majority public opinion, that narrative could change. So I don't think it's likely in the near term, but maybe farther out.