Takeaways From Amy Coney Barrett's Judiciary Confirmation Hearings

But he added that the hearings give the American people the chance to "find out about Judge Barrett."The hearings revealed little about Barrett's views on major legal issues like health care, abortion rights, voting rights or gun rights. The incentive to wrap up the confirmation review and get the Barrett vote to the Senate floor before Nov. 3 was palpable, as two GOP members of the panel who tested positive for the coronavirus after attending an event unveiling Barrett's nomination released letters clearing them to participate in person without posing any health risks to others.Barrett declined to answer many questions, citing precedent of earlier nomineesNominees for the high court in modern times have deliberately avoided directly responding to questions. They argued that Barrett's writings and selection by the president could mean she would be a vote on the court to dismantle the law.Over and over Barrett said she had no agenda, and that she never made any deal or discussed the issue with the president before her nomination.She was pressed multiple times by Democrats about a January 2017 law journal article in which she critiqued Chief Justice John Roberts' reasoning for upholding the law in a key decision.But she maintained, "I'm not here on a mission to destroy the Affordable Care Act." The pending case has to do with the issue of "severability," whether a key provision of the law — the individual mandate requiring insurance — is legally sound, and whether pulling it out would undermine the entire law. During her 2017 confirmation hearing for her current circuit court post, the top Democrat on the panel, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, remarked about Barrett's Catholic faith, "the dogma lives loudly within you." Republicans accused Democrats of an anti-religious bias and some used their opening statements to chastise any who would suggest that Barrett's religious views would interfere with her job as a judge.Ernst told Barrett that opponents were "attacking your faith and your precious family ... Barrett's ability to maneuver through complicated legal questions and not raise any vetting issues ensured that the process would move forward at a quick pace, despite the controversy over whether or not it should be happening at all when 40 states are already voting in the presidential election.Graham celebrated Barrett's place in history on Wednesday, saying, "this is the first time in American history that we've nominated a woman who is unashamedly pro-life and embraces her faith without apology, and she is going to the court." The committee will hear from an outside panel of supporters and opponents of Barrett's nomination on Thursday, but is expected to approve her nomination on a party line on Oct. 22.