On October 13, People For the American Way joined coalition partners Alliance for Justice, National Women’s Law Center, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights for a march to protest the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The rally was held the second day of Barrett’s confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The previous day, Senate Republicans continually tried to shift the focus away from Barrett’s damaging record on health care. The rally featured banners and signs that highlighted the urgency to protect our health care.
NOW: We're outside SCOTUS because #WeDissent to this Supreme Court nomination.
214K+ Americans have died of COVID. Addressing the pandemic SHOULD be the Senate's priority, but instead senators are rushing to confirm a justice to overturn the ACA. #BlockBarrett #OurCourt pic.twitter.com/uUpdxE43nH
— PFAW (@peoplefor) October 13, 2020
To ensure safety during the recent outbreak on Capitol Hill, the crowd was kept small and remained masked throughout. We marched along Second Street NE, walking past Hart Senate Building before arriving at the Supreme Court, chanting along the way: “Whose Court? Our Court!”
The majority of Americans believe that the winner of the presidential election should decide who will fill the vacant seat. But Senate Republicans are moving at breakneck speed to confirm Trump’s Supreme Court nominee before Election Day.
Barrett’s confirmation threatens to end affordable health care and protections for people with preexisting conditions. More than 215,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 — already hundreds more since the signs for the rally were printed. And every one of the seven million Americans who have survived it could soon face the terrifying prospect of not being able to get or afford the health insurance they need to manage the disease’s long-term effects.
As Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said on the opening day of the hearings, “Nothing about this today is normal. This is not normal. What is going on in America today— in the midst of a deadly pandemic and an ongoing election— having a rushed Supreme Court nomination hearing is not normal, and we cannot normalize it.”
Indeed, our lives are at stake with this Supreme court nomination. Our lawmakers should be prioritizing pandemic relief, not rushing an anti-health care judge onto the Supreme Court. This is a fight for our health care and our rights.