Blumenthal Calls on ACB to ‘Recuse Herself’ — ‘Otherwise, She’s Going to Destroy the Legitimacy of the Court’

Tuesday in an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called on Supreme Court justice nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett to “recuse herself.”

Blumenthal told MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt ahead of the second day of the hearing if Barrett does not “commit to recuse herself,” she will “destroy the legitimacy of the court and her own credibility.”

“Plainly, as you know, Kasie, the Republicans have the votes on this committee,” Blumenthal lamented. “They can prevail by raw power, but they don’t have the American people on their side. They don’t have history on their side. They’re losing because the American people want the next president and the next Senate to choose the next justice, and the American people want the Affordable Care Act. They want reproductive freedoms and sensible common-sense gun violence prevention, but there is an agenda here, and it is a pretty ugly one.”

He continued, “The President of the United States decided, in the days after Justice Ginsburg’s death, he wanted to put another justice on the Supreme Court so she could decide this election. He made it absolutely clear. He articulated it. And this justice must commit to recuse herself, otherwise, she’s going to destroy the legitimacy of the court and her own credibility. That’s why I demanded that she, in fact, take herself out of any decision involving the election should it reach the Supreme Court as Bush V. Gore did. But I think the majority of the American people want the votes to decide it, not the Supreme Court. And this whole proceeding is not normal. It really is a sham when you think about it. Americans are voting right now, and the president is trying to, in effect, have the Supreme Court decide the election, not the American voters.”

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