Thread by @JudyWoodruff

now @SenatorDurbin charges Republicans with a “shameless, self serving, venal reversal” in pushing Barrett nomination with only 22 days before 2020 election, after they denied Merrick Garland a hearing 269 days before 2016 election

followed by @SenMikeLee who says the Constitution works best when “each of us reads it and understands it”, reminding that he too served as a clerk on the high court

.@SenMikeLee, in the Senate bearing room, is 10 days out from testing positive for Covid. Chair @LindseyGrahamSC compliments his presentation, says he seems “fully recovered”

now @SenWhitehouse notes it is in the Republican Party platform to reverse the #ACA - says they are determined to get this done before Supreme Court hears ACA case on Nov 10 - calls hearing process an “unseemly charade”

and @TedCruz says if Democrats want to engage in policy arguments, they can do it "here" in the Senate, not in the Courts

.@SenAmyKlobuchar charges "we are dealing with a President who thinks truth doesn't matter" on the
"judge he is trying to rush through...who will have a profound impact on your life"

"so no, we cannot divorce this nominee and her views from this election" -- @SenAmyKlobuchar citing health care, Covid toll on Americans and Pres Trump's "packing people into your confirmation announcement"

adding "in the name of RBG, we should not go backwards" - @SenAmyKlobuchar charges hearing is a "sham" and says Democrats' "secret weapon" is ordinary Americans who are watching

dramatic close to @SenAmyKlobuchar opening statement, urging Americans to vote: "This isn't Donald Trump's country, this is your country; this isn't Donald Trump's judge, it should be yours."

to Senator @BenSasse: "it isn't the business of this committee" to explore a nominee's religion; cites - without naming her - @SenFeinstein - statement in Barrett appellate court confirmation hearing, about "dogma" that influences her

Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, reminds that "the American people are free to exercise their own religion" and charges Democrats with imposing a religious standard, of practicing religious bigotry..says "it must stop"

followed by @SenBlumenthal who charges the Barrett nomination is about fulfilling Pres Trump's goal of repealing the Affordable Care Act,

"Republicans are rushing this confirmation hearing in order to place an extremist, ideological judge on the Supreme Court" @SenBlumenthal - and "they are stripping the Court of its legitimacy"

.@SenBlumenthal tells Barrett "your participation in any case that involves Pres Trump's re-election, would do lasting harm to the Supreme Court...you must recuse yourself"

appearing virtually from his home, where he has been recuperating from #COVID19 @SenThomTillis says statements by Democrats on Barrett show "they are failing to do their job, and they want the Court to do it for them"

"there's nothing about this that is normal" Senator @CoryBooker citing that Americans are weeks into voting for President, that this is the middle of a pandemic, and "we cannot normalize it...the American people should decide....I will not be voting to confirm Judge Barrett"

pushback from Sen @MikeCrapo who says "any claim that this process is unusual or that it violates precedent is simply wrong" ..and insists Republicans do care about #COVID19

Democrats' Vice Presidential nominee Sen @KamalaHarris joins remotely, says "more than 9 million Americans have already voted" and notes the effects of overturning the Affordable Care Act...holds a photo of young girl, Mika, who has a congenital heart defect

"I believe we should wait until after Americans have spoken about whom they want for their next President, before we choose this Supreme Court justice" more @KamalaHarris

"it's neither rare nor remarkable to see the kind of performances put on my by Democratic colleagues today...they want to scare everybody" about you -- Sen @MarshaBlackburn