Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court begin Monday

SectionsTVFeaturedMore from NBC Follow NBC News Judge Amy Coney Barrett will tell the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday that serving on the U.S. Supreme Court "was not a position I had sought out, and I thought carefully before accepting," according to a copy of her opening statement obtained by NBC News.The confirmation hearings for Barrett's nomination to the high court are scheduled to begin on Monday at 9 a.m. ET and last through Thursday.Barrett does not mention her conservatism or her religious views in the four-page statement, and will instead tell senators that courts are "not designed to solve every problem or right every wrong in our public life.""Courts have a vital responsibility to enforce the rule of law, which is critical to a free society," Barrett will say, after discussing her experience clerking for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.Barrett will say that she chose to accept the nomination because she believes "Americans of all backgrounds deserve an independent Supreme Court that interprets our Constitution and laws as they are written."Barrett acknowledges the women on the court who came before her should she be confirmed, and pays tribute to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. https://t.co/8WYDyRYZg7The vice presidential nominee, who grilled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, will be watched for how aggressively she questions Barrett given that the hearings come with about three weeks left in the presidential campaign.Graham and the Republicans, who are eager to speed the nomination through as quickly as possible for fear they'll lose control of the Senate and the White House in the November election, have refused to budge.There will be some coronavirus safety measures in place for the hearings.The senators' seats will be 6-feet apart, as has been standard for Senate hearings during the pandemic, and each senator has wipes, napkins and hand sanitizer at their sear.