Barrett Vows To Decide Cases 'As They Come' In Day 2 Of Hearing

WASHINGTON, DC — Amy Coney Barrett batted back Democrats' skeptical questions on abortion, health care and a possible disputed election in a lively Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday, insisting she would bring no personal agenda to the court but would decide cases “as they come.”

The 48-year-old appellate court judge declared her conservative views with often colloquial language, but refused many specifics. She declined to say whether she would recuse herself from any election-related cases involving President Donald Trump, who nominated her to fill the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and is pressing to have her confirmed before the Nov. 3 election.

“Judges can’t just wake up one day and say I have an agenda — I like guns, I hate guns, I like abortion, I hate abortion — and walk in like a royal queen and impose their will on the world,” Barrett told the Senate Judiciary Committee during its second day of hearings.

“It’s not the law of Amy,” she said. “It’s the law of the American people.”

>>>Day 1 Recap: Barrett Says Court Should Interpret Law 'As Written'

Barrett said the police-involved Memorial Day death of George Floyd in Minneapolis had a "personal impact" on her.

Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, asked Barrett if she watched the viral video of Floyd's Memorial Day arrest in Minneapolis, and how it affected her.

"Senator, as you might imagine given that I have two black children, that was very, very personal for my family," Barrett responded.

Barrett has seven children, including two — John Peter and Vivian — who were adopted from Haiti.

The video was particularly hard on 17-year-old Vivian, the judge noted. "All of this was erupting. It was very difficult for her. We wept together in my room."

If confirmed, Barrett would replace the late Ginsburg. Ginsburg died Sept. 18, and Trump announced Barrett as his pick two weeks ago.

A Senate confirmation of Barrett to the Supreme Court would cement 6-3 conservative majority before the Nov. 3 election.

Overall, Barrett's conservative views are at odds with the late Ginsburg, the liberal icon whose seat Trump nominated her to fill.

“You would be the polar opposite of Justice Ginsburg,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota.

The Senate panel is expected to vote on Barrett's confirmation on Thursday, which would set up a final approval vote by the panel next week and an Oct. 26 confirmation by the full Senate.

Watch a replay of Tuesday's hearing in the video player above via the PBS NewsHour YouTube channel.

The Associated Press and Patch Editor William Bornhoft contributed reporting.