Donald Trump scored a major victory with the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett as the new Supreme Court Justice

US President Donald Trump took a major victory this Monday with the awaited confirmation of his Supreme Court candidate, consolidating the conservative majority in the high court and boost his re-election campaign eight days before the election.

Despite opposition from Democrats, who denounced an “illegitimate” process so close to the elections, Republican senators, the majority in the upper house, have all approved – with one exception – the admission of Amy Coney Barrett, a fervent anti-abortion Catholic, to the highest court of justice in the country..

The Supreme Court, arbiter of the thorniest issues of American society, will thus have six conservative judges out of nine, three of whom are appointed by the Republican president.

“It is an important day for the United States, for the American Constitution and for a fair and impartial rule of law.The president said this shortly after during the magistrate’s oath in the garden of the White House.

Democrats warn Barrett could vote to dismantle Obamacare, a health reform that helped millions of Americans get health insurance, and that could help overturn the Roe v. Wade of 1973 which allows the right to abortion.

But Barrett said he will keep his personal beliefs separate from his job.

“I will do my job without fear or favors (…) And I will do it regardless of political powers and my preferences “.

The magistrate could attend his first hearing starting November 2, on the eve of the presidential elections. Therefore, theoretically it will act in case of examination of any appeals against the results of the vote.

The appointment ingratiates Trump with religious right-wing voters and supports a strategy that has resulted in the appointment of more than 200 conservative judges across the federal justice system during his term.

But in addition to the result of November 3, his legacy will last because those positions are for life and Trump has generally elected young judges. Barrett is 48 years old.

“He’s going to be there for a long time,” the president said before his appointment in front of a crowd in Lititz, at one of three rallies scheduled for Monday in Pennsylvania, a key state election.

During the debate in the Senate before the vote, the head of the democratic minority, Chuck Schumer denounced the “hypocrisy” of Republicans and claimed that the judge was chosen not for his credentials, but for his “radical right” beliefs.

But on the Republican side, it was all flattery. Powerful Senator Lindsey Graham celebrated a “historic” day and President Mitch McConnell praised Barrett’s “brilliant” credentials.

Shortly after the vote, Young Democrat MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted her support for an idea circulating on the far left: increasing the number of Supreme Court justices to offset the influence of Trump-appointed judges..

Trump’s rival, Democrat Joe Biden, while not a fan of the idea, doesn’t rule him out entirely. If elected, he plans to create a bipartisan commission to reform the Supreme Court.

For Trump, the triumph of the nomination is, however, clouded by a worsening of the health crisis in the country, which continues to affect his re-election campaign.

Biden continues to accuse the Republican president of giving up a virus that killed more than 225,000 Americans and infected more than 8.6 million, of which almost 90,000 on Saturday, a record.

“Donald Trump is the worst possible president to lead the country during a pandemic“He said Monday on a surprise visit to Chester, Pennsylvania.

During his Pennsylvania tour, Trump denied having capitulated to the virus. “We are definitely moving on,” he assured reporters.

Despite the emergency, Expectations that Congress will pass a new stimulus package for a pandemic-ravaged economy are fading and the New York Stock Exchange closed with a 2.3 percent loss.

The statements by the White House chief of staff on Sunday reinforced the image of a government powerless in the face of the virus.

“We will not control the pandemic. We will check for vaccines, treatments and other mitigations“Mark Meadows said in CNN.

These comments received a wake-up call from the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who warned that it was “dangerous” to abandon the strategy of trying to eradicate the virus.

(With information from AFP)

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