Democrats quickly coalesced around opposition to President Donald Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Saturday, painting the nominee as a threat to policies that Democrats favor, NBC News reports.
One Democratic senator — Connecticut's Richard Blumenthal, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee — said he would not meet with Barrett, as is customary for members of the committee, in protest of Trump’s decision to rush ahead with the nomination so close to an election.
“I refuse to treat this process as legitimate and will not meet with Judge Barrett,” Blumenthal said in a statement.
Recent Supreme Court nominations have become increasingly partisan, and the decision by Republican leaders to press ahead with replacing Ruth Bader Ginsburg only weeks before a presidential election is likely to make the process more contentious.
Ginsburg’s death a week ago and Trump’s race to replace her has galvanized Democratic activists and voters. In the past week alone, Democrats raised more than $300 million through their online donation hub ActBlue, according to an analyst who tracks party fundraising.
Setting the message for his party, former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, criticized Barrett's comments on health care laws and said she would be likely to reverse the Affordable Care Act.
