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How Democrats Could Try To Delay And Derail Trump's New Supreme Court Pick

President Donald Trump on Saturday announced Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his pick to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. Now Democrats have less than 40 days to try to stop her appointment before the Nov. 3 election.

Trump has already said he wants a ninth justice in place because he believes the Supreme Court will decide the election, given legal challenges over ballot counting. The Senate Judiciary Committee reportedly plans to move forward with confirmation hearings on Oct. 12, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said earlier this week that he will hold a floor vote for the nominee before the election.

There aren’t many options available to keep this from happening. But progressive activist groups and, increasingly, members of the party’s elite are pushing Senate Democrats to deploy every tool available to fight this nomination. Democrats are also being urged to threaten retribution for this appointment, if it comes to pass, in the form of adding justices to the Supreme Court and eliminating the legislative filibuster.

The next few weeks will set the stage for what kind of change will be possible for the foreseeable future. Since the Supreme Court has assumed the role of final arbiter in America’s political system, a sixth conservative justice would shift the court to the right on abortion rights, government regulation of corporations, campaign finance regulation and voting rights laws. Any federal government regulatory action to deal with climate change could be at threat ― as would the right to choose, antitrust actions to unravel corporate monopolies, and limits on campaign contributions made by the wealthy and corporations. It would be a seismic, generational shift.

Trump’s replacement of Ginsburg before the election, or during the lame-duck period if he loses the election, would be “illegitimate,” according to former Attorney General Eric Holder. Holder said Democrats should promise to...

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