Despite trailing in the polls barely one week from election day, US President Donald Trump was yesterday set to celebrate a likely monumental victory for the conservative cause: the confirmation of his third nominee for the US Supreme Court.
Appellate Judge Amy Coney Barrett is all but certain to become the ninth justice on the nation's highest court, after Democrats failed to derail the contentious process in a sharply divided Senate.
In a rare Sunday session, the Senate's Republican majority overcame a filibuster by Democrats, and Mrs Barrett's nomination cleared a procedural hurdle, 51-48, to set up a confirmation vote due last night.
"By tomorrow night, we'll have a new member of the United States Supreme Court," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the chamber. "The other side won't be able to do much about this for a long time to come."
Mrs Barrett's ascension to the seat left vacant by the Sept 18 death of liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg would lock in a 6-to-3 conservative majority on the high court.
Democrats have warned that Mrs Barrett, 48, could vote to gut Obamacare, which has helped millions of Americans gain health insurance, and perhaps overturn Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 decision protecting abortion rights.
They have been left steaming over the process. Senate Republicans had blocked then President Barack Obama's Supreme Court pick in March 2016, arguing that it was too close to an election eight months away. But when Mr Trump nominated Mrs Barrett 38 days before the 2020 election, Republicans embraced the move.
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer called the confirmation rush a "glaring hypocrisy" that would leave "an inerasable stain on this Republican majority".
Two other Trump nominees for the Supreme CourtMr Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Mr Brett Kavanaugh in 2018were confirmed after bitter partisan fights.
Mr Trump's first term has been controversial, but his Supreme Court confirmations are "at the top of the heap" of accomplishments, Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn told Fox News.
The process has moved with uncommon speed, taking just 30 days from Mrs Barrett's nomination to her likely confirmationless than half the 69.6-day average from nomination to final Senate vote.
Mr Trump, who is trailing his Democratic challenger Joe Biden in the opinion polls, has said he wants Mrs Barrett confirmed before the Nov 3 vote and in place in the event the court hears an election-related challenge.
Two Republican senators, Ms Susan Collins of Maine and Alaska's Ms Lisa Murkowski, voted against moving forward after stating that they opposed confirming a justice so close to an election.
But in a turnabout last Saturday, Ms Murkowski told colleagues she would vote to confirm Mrs Barrett given that there was no chance of blocking the process. "While I oppose the process that has led us to this point, I do not hold it against her as an individual," she said.
Mr McConnell had prioritised the confirmation over all other Senate business, including a new Bill to provide relief to millions of Americans and companies ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.
The outbreak has brought a new wrinkle to the process. VP Mike Pence, who also has a constitutional role as Senate president, was expected to preside over yesterday's vote though his chief of staffand reportedly others in Mr Pence's circlewas diagnosed with Covid-19 this past weekend.
Mr Pence, who tested negative for the virus according to a spokesman on Sunday, will maintain his schedule. That drew astonishment from Mr Schumer, who warned that Mr Pence's decision puts senators and staffers at risk.
"The Republican Party is willing to ignore the pandemic to rush this Supreme Court nomination forward," he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump and Mr Biden are down to the final full week of campaigning before the presidential election.
Mr Trump yesterday headed to Pennsylvania, a critical swing state being heavily courted with frequent visits by both candidates, and is set for multiple trips to Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin this week.
Mr Biden is scheduled to travel to Georgia today. That push in the Southern state, which went for Mr Trump in 2016 by about 5 percentage points and has not backed a Democratic presidential candidate since 1992, shows Mr Biden's effort to expand his party's reach.
Despite Mr Biden's solid lead in the polls, the contest in the most critical battleground states such as Florida and Pennsylvania that could decide the outcome appears closer.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS