US Senate Republicans have pledged to go ahead with a vote on President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, despite judiciary committee Democrats pledging to boycott a proceeding that they called "a sham".
Senate judiciary committee chairman Lindsey Graham said in a statement on Wednesday that "Judge Barrett deserves a vote and she will receive a vote".
The committee has 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats. The panel's expected approval of Barrett in the vote scheduled for Thursday would pave the way for a confirmation vote on the Senate floor planned by Republicans for Monday.
Democrats have fiercely opposed Barrett, a federal appeals court judge whose confirmation by the Republican-led Senate would expand the top US judicial body's conservative majority to 6-3.
"This has been a sham process from the beginning," top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer and the committee's Democratic members said in a joint statement.
"Amidst a global pandemic and ongoing election, Republicans are rushing to confirm a Supreme Court Justice to take away health care from millions and execute the extreme and deeply unpopular agenda that they've been unable to get through Congress."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has made confirmation of Trump's conservative judicial appointees a high priority, has been working to get Barrett confirmed to the lifetime post before election day on November 3, as the Republican president has requested. Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority.
Trump nominated Barrett to replace liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died in September. No nominee to the Supreme Court has ever been confirmed by the Senate this close to a presidential election.
Democrats reiterated their anger that Senate Republicans moved forward with the nomination so near an election after refusing in 2016 to allow the chamber to act on a Supreme Court nomination by Trump's Democratic predecessor Barack Obama because it was an election year.
Trump has said he believes the Supreme Court will decide the election's outcome as he faces Democratic challenger Joe Biden, and has made clear he wants Barrett on the bench for any election-related cases.
Assuming the judiciary committee sends the nomination to the full Senate with a favourable recommendation as expected, McConnell aims to hold a Senate procedural vote on Barrett's nomination on Sunday, which would limit debate so a final vote to confirm her could occur on Monday.
Australian Associated Press
