Win for Donald Trump as US Senate confirms Amy Coney Barrett for Supreme Court
- Conservative judge will fill vacancy left by late liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, further solidifying top court’s rightward tilt
- Barrett could be decisive vote in cases involving election issues, Trump’s taxes and fate of Obamacare
US President Donald Trump’s struggling re-election campaign received a boost Monday with the confirmation of his latest Supreme Court nominee, tilting the top body to the right and clinching his judicial legacy in a landmark victory for American conservatives.
The Republican-controlled Senate elevated Amy Coney Barrett to the lifelong position in a 52-48 vote, capping a rapid and deeply contentious process that makes her the sixth conservative, and third Trump appointee, on the nine-member court.
“This is a momentous day for America, for the United States Constitution and for the fair and impartial rule of law,” the president, standing alongside Barrett, said before beaming lawmakers and others who had gathered on the South Lawn of the White House.
Barrett, 48, assures a strong conservative judicial legacy for Trump, who has also been able to appoint dozens of young, right-wing judges to federal courts in his four years in office. Trump’s other Supreme Court appointees are conservatives Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Democrats have fumed over the process that confirmed a justice so close to a presidential election, and warn that Barrett might vote to overturn the landmark 1973 decision that protects abortion rights, or to gut health care provision for millions of Americans.