Thread by @sahilkapur

Lindsey Graham and Dianne Feinstein chat before the Amy Coney Barrett Supreme Court hearings begin.

.@LindseyGrahamSC notes that Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia were confirmed near unanimously and laments that those days are over.

Lindsey Graham: "This is an election year. We're confirming a judge in an election year after the voting has occurred." Reversing himself from previous years where he said he wouldn't do this. He says it may be unprecedented in some ways but it's not unconstitutional.

Lindsey Graham on the Barrett hearing: “Let’s make it respectful. Let’s make it challenging.” He turns the mic over to Dianne Feinstein, who thanks him and says: “We feel the same way. And I believe we want this to be a very good hearing.”

First health care mention comes from Feinstein barely a minute or two into her remarks. She notes that the ACA is headed to the Supreme Court and Donald Trump has promised to appoint judges who'd rule against that law.

Feinstein goes straight at Barrett, noting that she was critical of Chief Justice Roberts in 2012 for voting to uphold the ACA.

More on ACB's past ACA comments here: nbcnews.com/politics/supre…

Feinstein is now telling the story of a constituent with a preexisting condition who she warns would be harmed if Barrett is confirmed and helps overturn the ACA.

Dianne Feinstein: "Senate Republicans are pressing forward full speed ahead to consolidate a Court that will carry their policies forward."

And now Feinstein quotes Graham promising not to confirm a Trump-nominated justice in an election year after voting has begun, taking him up on his offer to use his words against him. That ends her remarks.

Graham thanks her and turns the mic to Grassley.

Chuck Grassley: "A good judge understands it's not the court's place to rewrite the law as it sees fit. It's not his or her place to let policy, personal or moral principles dictate an outcome of a case."

Grassley: "The left is also suggesting Judge Barrett's confirmation would be the demise of the ACA and the protection for preexisting conditions. That's outrageous. As a mother of seven Judge Barrett clearly understands the importance of health care."

(All four of the justices who voted to wipe out the ACA in 2012 had children; Scalia had nine.)

Chuck Grassley, the 2016 Judiciary Chairman who refused hearings for Merrick Garland, said in 2018 he wouldn't consider a Supreme Court nomination if there was a vacancy then. His office says he only meant that if he were still chairman, but he isn't, and will consider one now.

Grassley becomes the first senator to bring up Barrett's religion, quoting Feinstein's "dogma" remarks from 2017.

Grassley blasts figures on the left who are pushing to expand the Supreme Court. (He authored legislation during the last administration to shrink the DC Circuit Court of Appeals by 3 seats, when there were 3 vacancies that he and McConnell didn't want Obama to fill.)

It's clear what the two sides want to focus on at the Amy Coney Barrett hearing:

• Every Democrat has brought up the ACA lawsuit headed to the Supreme Court

• Most Republicans have brought up her large family and Catholic faith + denounced judicial activism

Mike Lee mentions the commerce clause, which forms the basis for much progressive legislation and is one of the biggest jurisprudential issues at stake in a potential 6-3 conservative Supreme Court.

Sheldon Whitehouse: "Justice Ginsburg hadn't been buried when the president and Senate Republicans celebrated Judge Barrett's nomination at the White House super-spreader event. This was a hypocritical tire-squealing 180 for many Republican colleagues."

CRUZ: “Remember this: Every single member of the Senate agrees that pre-existing conditions can and should be protected. Period. The end. There is complete unanimity on this.”

Fact check: There is nothing close to unanimity on this issue. There is deep division.

Amy Klobuchar: "This hearing is a sham. I think it shows real messed up priorities from the Republican Party. But I am here to do my job, to tell the truth. To all Americans, we don't have some clever procedural way to stop this sham. To stop them from rushing through a nominee."

Ben Sasse defends Barrett's religion: "As somebody who's self-consciously a Christian, we got a whole bunch of really weird beliefs. Forgiveness of sins, the virgin birth, resurrection from death, eternal life. A whole bunch of really, really crazy ideas that are a lot weirder.."

"...than some Catholic moms giving each other advice about parenting," he says, in context of arguing that Barrett's religious views should be of no relevance to the Judiciary Committee.

COONS: "Judge Barrett, I’m not suggesting you made some secret deal with President Trump, but I believe the reason you were chosen is precisely because your judicial philosophy, as repeatedly stated, could lead to the outcomes President Trump has sought."

Richard Blumenthal says conservatives who picked Amy Coney Barrett "want an activist judge — they want someone who will legislate from the bench and strike down laws supported by a vast majority of the American people."

"And that activism uses originalism as a smoke screen."

Richard Blumenthal to Amy Coney Barrett: "Your participation, let me be very blunt, in any case involving Donald Trump's election would immediately do explosive enduring harm to the Court's legitimacy and to your own credibility. You must recuse yourself."

The hearing continues, and Mazie Hirono is up, decrying this as a "hypocritical, illegitimate process."

Mazie Hirono wraps after pushing a similar message on ACA, taking about her own fight with cancer. She, too, doesn't mention Amy Coney Barrett's religion.

Joni Ernst is up, focusing her speech heavily on religion, saying Amy Coney Barrett's opponents keep "attacking your faith and your precious family... attacking you as a mom and a woman of faith." (Only Republicans have brought up her Catholicism at this hearing.)

Kamala Harris, patching in remotely to the Barrett hearing: "Every American should understand that with this nomination, equal justice under law is at stake."

Sen. John Kennedy: "We all watched the hearings for Justice Kavanaugh. It was a FREAKSHOW. It looked like the cantina bar scene out of star wars."

Sen. John Kennedy: "It hurts to be called a racist. I think it's one of the worst things you can call an American."

Sen. Marsha Blackburn on Ruth Bader Ginsburg: "She was indeed a role model for many because she fought to open more doors for women in the law and beyond. And I sincerely hope that I am as effective an advocate in the Senate as she was in the Court."

Amy Coney Barrett is sworn in at the Judiciary Committee.