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Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearing: Day 4

By Meg Wagner and Melissa Mahtani, CNN

Updated 4:22 p.m. ET, October 15, 2020

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4:22 p.m. ET, October 15, 2020

The final day of Barrett's confirmation hearing is over

The Senate Judiciary Committee just wrapped up its fourth and final day in the conformation hearing of President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

Over the past four days, senators on the committee had opening remarks, asked Barrett questions on a range of issues and heard from outside witnesses.

Here's what happens next in the confirmation process:

Next Thursday: Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on the nomination.
Next Friday: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he plans to put Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination on the Senate floor on Oct. 23.
The week of Oct. 26: According to McConnell's timeline, Barrett's final confirmation vote is teed up for the first half of the week of Oct. 26.

2:50 p.m. ET, October 15, 2020

Amy Coney Barrett will have to respond to written questions by Tuesday night

From CNN's Manu Raju

President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett will have to answer questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee members by 8 p.m. ET Tuesday, a republican aid tells CNN.

She'll respond to the written questions — which are expected to be sent by tomorrow evening — in writing.

The committee vote to approve her nomination is scheduled for next Thursday

12:59 p.m. ET, October 15, 2020

The Senate Judiciary has a date for a committee vote on Barrett's nomination. Here's what happens next.

The Senate Judiciary Committee this morning announced it plans to vote to approve Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court nomination next Thursday.

If you're just catching up, here's what the confirmation process looks like for the next few days:

Today: While the Judiciary Committee has already announced plans to vote on Barrett's nomination next week, they're still in the middle of their final day of her confirmation hearing. Later today, senators on the committee will hear from outside witnesses, who are expected to discuss the Affordable Care Act, reproductive rights and voting rights.
Thursday: Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on the nomination.
Next Friday: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he plans to put Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination on the Senate floor on Oct. 23.
The week of Oct. 26: According to McConnell's timeline, Barrett's final confirmation vote is teed up for the first half of the week of Oct. 26.

11:40 a.m. ET, October 15, 2020

"A sham process": Sen. Tim Kaine says he won’t vote to confirm Barrett

From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine said he will not vote to confirm President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

“I’m not going to vote for her. If we get after the election and Republicans rethink the idea of rushing it, we can see how the dust settles on [the] election, and then I would entertain the qualifications of any nominee. But I view this as a sham process and I'm not going to be a party to it,” Kaine told CNN’s Jim Sciutto.

“Before she was nominated, I said that I was holding the Republicans to their promise. …They're breaking their promise to rush a nominee to try to kill the Affordable Care Act,” he said.

Kaine previously voted to confirm her to the Seventh Circuit Court.

Watch:

11:07 a.m. ET, October 15, 2020

Mitch McConnell says he will start Senate floor consideration of Barrett's nomination next Friday

From CNN's Phil Mattingly

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, speaking after casting his vote in Louisville, said he would plan to put Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination on the Senate floor Oct. 23.

“We’ll go to the floor with her on Friday the 23rd and stay on her 'til we finish,” McConnell told reporters.

What this means: Moving to consider Barrett’s nomination on the floor on Oct. 23 would tee up her final confirmation vote for the first half of the week of Oct. 26.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday set the committee vote to approve Barrett’s nomination for next Thursday, Oct. 22

McConnell, as expected, said he’d been watching the hearings very closely and had high praise for the nominee.

“This is an outstanding nominee if you had a chance to watch her,” McConnell said. “She’s absolutely brilliant, able to fend off all the questions in an appropriate way for a judicial nominee. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg set the standard fo what you should and shouldn’t say in one of these confirmation hearings and what you shouldn’t say is how you’re going to rule on anything in the future and she stuck to that Ginsburg rule flawlessly.”

McConnell also reiterated his view of the wave of judicial confirmations since President Trump took office.

“This whole business of confirming judges has been, I think, the most important thing we’ve done.”

9:46 a.m. ET, October 15, 2020

Democratic senator: Rush to confirm Barrett is a "sham process"

From CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal unsuccessfully called for the postponement of the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, calling it a “sham process” that is not allowing for adequate time to review the nomination, including new reporting surfaced by CNN’s KFILE.

"I move to indefinitely postpone the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to be an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. I believe that this rush sham process is a disservice to our committee. She has been rushed in a way that is historically unprecedented," he said.

Some background: On Wednesday KFILE reported that public calendars from the University of Notre Dame's law school show at least seven additional talks not listed on Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Senate paperwork, including one with the law school's anti-abortion group, according to a CNN KFile review.

9:21 a.m. ET, October 15, 2020

Trump administration wants Barrett to be "judicial torpedo" on health care, Democratic senator says

From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said while the Trump administration is focused on ending the Affordable Care Act, some of his Republican colleagues are trying to downplay that risk with their constituents who are concerned about health care.

During the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett so far, both Democrats and Republicans have looked to get a better understanding on how she would rule on the ACA. Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham questioned her about the legal doctrine of "severability," or whether the entire law can stand if one part of it is deemed unconstitutional.

“All of the signals out of the administration and the big donors behind this process are that she is intended to be a judicial torpedo aimed at people's health care,” Whitehouse said in an interview on CNN. “But at the same time a lot of Republicans, four of them on the Senate Judiciary Committee, are facing voters right now who think that that's a terrible idea, so they’re torn between what their party's policy is and what their voters want to hear.”

Whitehouse, a Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee, said lawmakers need to take a look at “some of the mischief” going on at the Supreme Court.

“All of the three last nominees have had very significant procedural peculiarities about their appointments. This has all the signals of a political power grab,” Whitehouse said.

“The Republicans basically have compromised the integrity of the court in order to fashion a court that will rule for their big donor interests. We need to look into that and figure out how to respond,” he added.

Watch more:

9:31 a.m. ET, October 15, 2020

Senate Judiciary sets Oct. 22 vote on Barrett nomination after rejecting Democrats call for a delay

From CNN's Manu Raju

Sen. Dick Durbin speaks before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the fourth day of hearings on Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, Thursday, October 15. Susan Walsh/Pool/AP

Senate Judiciary Republicans have set a committee vote to approve Amy Coney Barrett and send her nomination to the floor for Oct. 22 at 1 p.m. ET.

Chair Lindsey Graham rejected Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin’s call to delay the vote after he argued the chair could not move forward under the rules because two minority members were not present.

9:27 a.m. ET, October 15, 2020

The last day of Barrett's confirmation hearing just started

Senate Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham just began today's committee meeting into session.

Senators on the committee have spent the last two days questioning Trump's Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

Today, they'll meet to mark up the nomination. Democrats are expected to use their power under the committee rules to delay the vote for one week. The vote should occur Oct. 22.