Trump in the debate last night:
President Donald Trump indicated on Tuesday that he expects the Supreme Court, which he hopes will include his newly nominated Justice, will be the one to decide the fate of the 2020 election.
“I’m counting on them to look at the ballots.” Trump said during Tuesday evening’s presidential debate. “I hope we don’t need them,” he added. But the large numbers of anticipated mail-in ballots, Trump said, will inevitably mean questionable election results. “This is going to be a fraud like you have never seen,” he said.
He made it crystal clear that he expects “his” majority to rule in his favor in what he expects to be an election decided by the Supreme Court. And apparently the woman he chose to fill that 9th seat on the court just days before the election, with the explicit direction that he expects her to steal the seat for him, is perfectly willing to go along:
President Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court did not commit to recusing herself from cases related to the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, according to her written responses to a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire.
Amy Coney Barrett’s responses, obtained by POLITICO on Tuesday night, also provide a window into the breakneck pace at which the White House operated in the aftermath of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, with Barrett revealing that Trump settled on her as his pick just three days after Ginsburg’s death.
Barrett’s statements on her standard for recusalsare certain to draw fire from Democrats, who have been pressuring Barrett over the issue as Republicans dismiss their arguments as having no basis. More broadly, Democratshave strongly objected to Senate Republicans’ effort to confirm a new Supreme Court justice this close to the election.
Barrett said she would recuse herself from cases involving her husband, Jesse Barrett, and her sister, Amanda Coney Williams, both of whom are attorneys. Barrett also would recuse herself from cases that include Notre Dame University as a party. Barrett has been a law professor at Notre Dame since 2002.
The 48-year-old nominee also said she would step aside from matters in which she participated while serving in her current role as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.
Top Democrats have called for Barrett to commit to recusing herself from issues that involve the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, given the possibility that the result could be decided by the Supreme Court. Democrats have also accused Trump of seeking to place a loyalist on the high court in the event of a contested election.
“The underlying fault here is with the timing, which makes it a sham, but certainly she should recuse herself. In a normal world, there would be no question about it,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters.
In a normal world a fascist ignoramus like Donald Trump wouldn’t be president and a power-mad nihilist like Mitch McConnell wouldn’t be running a supposed democracy like his personal fiefdom. But we don’t live in a normal world, do we?