With the passing of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last month, a seat was left open on the United States Supreme Court.
Despite Senate Republicans' 2016 position that an election year was too close for a President's Supreme Court nomination to be considered, these same Senators moved to confirm the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett in record time, even as millions of people across the nation voted early for a new President.
But with a Republican majority in the Senate and a Republican President, there was little Senate Democrats could do to block or stall the nomination until after the election.
With Coney Barrett's confirmation practically certain, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) took to the Senate floor to excoriate his Republican colleagues for rushing through a confirmation in defiance of their own standards as 60 million votes had already been cast.
Watch below.
"Today, Monday October 26, 2020, will go down as one of the darkest days in the 231-year history of the United States Senate,"
Senate Minority Leader Schumer says, ahead of expected vote to confirm judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.https://t.co/IMszMSZDut pic.twitter.com/SxgVt5hG5W
— ABC News (@ABC) October 26, 2020
Schumer said:
"Today, Monday October 26, 2020, will go down as one of the darkest days in the 231-year history of the United States Senate. Let the record show that tonight, the Republican Senate majority decided to thwart the will of the people and confirm a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court in the middle of a presidential election after more than 60 million Americans have voted."
He went on to blast his Republican colleagues for breaking a 231 year precedent as the first Senate to confirm a Supreme Court nominee so close to an election. He went on to accuse them of making "a mockery of its own stated principle that the American people deserve a voice in the selection" of Supreme Court justices.
People agreed with Schumer's bleak summary of events.
*takes a deep breath to keep from crying* https://t.co/1G0m3rxmCm
— Kamie Crawford (@KamieCrawford) October 27, 2020
It heightened calls from across the country for Americans to vote them out.
Vote like lives depend on it because they do. Evil is determined to kill us all.
FIGHT. https://t.co/1lsOTCi2Nw
— Tess Fowler (pathology report says CANCER FREE!) (@TessFowler) October 27, 2020
The election is on November third, but early voting is underway in most states.