sunday, 7:00 eastern as we are for another addition of the show. enjoy your saturday and we will see you back here tomorrow. ♪ >> you are watching c-span, your unfiltered view of government, created by america's cable television companies as a public service and brought to you today by your television provider. will vote. senate next week on the confirmation of judge amy coney barrett to be associate justice of the nation's highest court. the senategh, judiciary committee must send the nominee to the senate.

the committee meets thursday morning at 9:00 eastern with a vote planned for the afternoon. the senate is expected to begin debate today after the committee vote friday. -- the day after the committee vote friday. according to leader mcconnell, they will stay on the nomination until she is confirmed. you can watch live, gavel-to-gavel coverage on c-span2. tomorrow and today, we will show highlights from judge barrett's confirmation hearing. we will start with some of the opening statements from monday. you will hear from judge barrett, democratic vice presidential candidate senator, kamala harris louisiana republican senator john kennedy. dayr that, portions from two of the hearing as senators ask the nominee questions. first, committee chair lindsey graham followed by the top democrat on the committee, dianne feinstein. number one, justice ruth bader ginsburg died on september 18. what can you say about justice

ginsburg? she was confirmed 96-3. those or day that have since passed. i regret that. 96-3. this was a person who worked for the aclu, some who was known in progressive circles as a icon, apparently every republican voted for her. her good friend on the court, justice scalia, got 97 votes. i don't know what happened between then and now. justn all take blame, we want to remind everybody there like time with someone ruth bader ginsburg was seen by almost everybody as qualified being on the supreme court, understanding she would have a different philosophy than many

of the republicans who voted for her. 27 years on the court before becoming a member of the court. she was active litigator, pushing for more equal justice and better rights for women throughout the country. her close friend, until his herh, justice scalia, calls the leading and very successful litigator on behalf of women's rights. thurgood marshall -- the thurgood marshall of that cause. what high praise. any more than that statement says. appearing, the person for this committee is in the category of excellent, something the country should be proud of, and she will have a chance to make her case to be a worthy successor and to become the

ninth member of the supreme court of the united states. 26, judge barrett was nominated by president trump to the supreme court. who is she? theis a judge sitting on traditional circuit. she is highly respected. she was a professor at notre dame. three years during that tenure, she was chosen by the students of being the best professor, which i am sure is no easy task at any college. she is widely admired for her integrity. ,he grew up in new orleans graduated from rhodes college in memphis, tennessee in 1994, graduated summa can lottie and suma cumsukhum --

laude. she clerked for judge lawrence silverman on the u.s. court of appeals for the d.c. circuit judge and then for justice scalia on the supreme court. she practiced law in washington, d.c. she joined the faculty of notre dame in 2002. she has published numerous articles in prestigious journals, including the columbia university of virginia and cornell law review. she has been a circuit court judge at the seventh circuit since 2017. she was confirmed to that position with a bipartisan vote. she has heard hundreds of cases in that capacity. she said, i clerked for justice scalia within 20 years ago, but the lessons i learned still resonate. his judicial philosophy is mine.

a judge must supply the law as written. judges are not policymakers and they must be resolute in setting aside any policy views they might hold. statement, buter i think that is a good summary of who she is. that's who amy barrett is in terms of the law. as far as amy barrett the individual, she and her husband have seven children, two adopted. so nine seems to be a good number. -- this is an election year. we are confirming the judge in an election year. what will happen is my democratic colleagues will say this has never been done and they are right in this regard. confirmed in an

election year past july. the bottom line is justice ginsburg when asked about this several years ago that a president serves four years not three. there is nothing unconstitutional about this process. .his is a vacancy this is a tragedy of the loss of a great woman and we will fill the vacancy with another great woman. dutyenate is doing its constitutionally. garland, the opening that occurred with the passing of justice scalia was in the early part of an election year. the primary process had just started. and we can talk about history, but here is the history as i understand it. there has never been a situation where you had the president of one party and the senate of another with the nominee where the replacement was made in election years. it has been over 140 years ago.

there have been 19 vacancies filled in an election year, 17 of the 19 confirmed to the court on the party of the president and senate are the same. timing, the hearing is starting 16 days after nomination, more than half of all supreme court hearings have been held within 16 days of the announcement of the nominee. stevens, 10, pollock, 13, blackman, 13. we are doing this constitutionally. our democratic friends object to the process. i respect them all. they will have a chance to have their say, but most importantly, i hope we will know more about how the law works, checks and balances, what the supreme court is all about when this hearing

is all over. why hold this hearing? a lot of people on our say -- aside say just ram it through. i hear that a lot, so i don't listen to the radio much anymore. i think it is important. this is a lifetime appointment. i would like the world and the country to know more about judge merrick. -- judge barrett. this is probably not about persuading each other unless something dramatic happens. all republicans will vote yes and all the democrats will vote no. that will be the way the breakout of the vote. the hearing is a chance for democrats to dig deep into her philosophy, appropriately asked her about the law, how she would is on hernt, what mind. it gives republicans a chance to do the same thing.

most importantly, it gives the american people the chance to georgia about george judge barrett. is she as qualified as soda sotomayor andn -- kagan? i think so. they had a different philosophy than my own, but i never doubted one moment they were not qualified. i thought gorsuch and kavanaugh were qualified. hassenate in the past looked at qualifications more than anything else. we are taking it -- we have taken a different path at times. tom's, alito, cavanaugh -- thomas, alito, cavanaugh. that, and ideserve don't think it makes this

hearing any better. believe,can people, i do not deserve a repeat of those episodes in the senate judiciary many history. , imy democratic colleagues respect you all. we have done some things together and had some fights in this committee. i have tried to give you the time you need to make your case, and you have every right in the world to make your case. i think i know how the vote is going to come out, but i think barrett is required to listen to your questions. let's extent possible, make it respectful, challenging, let's remember the world is

watching. senator feinstein. sen. feinstein: thanks very much. i want to address your last statement. we feel the same way and i believe we want this to be a very good hearing. i certainly will strive to do my best to achieve that. , andmorning, judge barrett welcome to you and your family. at less than one month ago, the nation lost one of our leading voices for equality, ruth bader ginsburg. she left very big shoes to fill her judge ginsburg loved the law and she love this country -- shoes to fill. judge ginsburg loved the law and she love this country. we the people of the united states in order to form a more perfect union, included all of the people, not just a few, elite few.

she was a standard bearer for justice. justice ginsburg's nomination was the first one that i participated in when i came to the senate. it was a real thrill to be part of that hearing for someone who shebroken down barriers staunchly believed in a woman's right to full equality and autonomy. in filling judge ginsburg's , it is high for the american people in the short term and for decades to come. most importantly, health care coverage for millions of thiscans is at stake with nomination. colleagues and i will focus on that subject. we will examine the consequences if, and it is a big if, if republicans succeed in rushing

this nomination to the senate before the next president takes office. but most importantly, in just a , the supreme court vll hear hearings in texas california., and act to strike down the aca. the president has promised to appoint justices who will vote to dismantle that law as a candidate, he criticized the pre-court for upholding the law and said, and i quote, if i win the presidency, my judicial appointments will do the right robertslike bush's john ." obamacare the president said eliminating the affordable care act would be quote a big win for the usa. judge barrett you have been

critical of roberts opinion upholding the law saying that roberts push the four character beyond its possible meaning to , end quote.tute ifs can melt -- mean that judge barrett is confirmed, americans stand to lose the benefits. i hope you will address that in the series. with130 million americans pre-existing conditions like cancer, asthma, or even covid-19 .ould be denied coverage this includes within 16.8 million californians with pre-existing conditions, and we are just one state. but i think you should know how we feel.

secondly, some 12 million working americans are covered through the aca's medicaid expansion. if the act is struck down, they lose their health care. third, more than 2 million americans under the age of 26 are covered by their parents' health insurance, and they could lose that coverage. fourth, insurers could charge higher premiums for women, simply because of their gender. in fifth, women could lose access to critical preventive services and maternity care, including cancer screenings and well women visits. the bottom line is this -- there have been 70 attempts to repeal effort, but clearly the to dismantle the law continues, and they are asking the supreme court to strike down the

affordable care act. this, i believe, will calls tremendous harm -- because tremendous harm, consider people like christina garcia of my home state. at 860, christina's eyesight cap at age 60l -- -- at age 60, christina's eyesight started to fail. the cost of coverage when it was even offered to her averaged between one to $500 and $3000 a month, far more than she and her husband could afford. 2010, she was able to obtain coverage through the affordable care act. within weeks she was able to have cataract surgery. this saved her life. she described her reaction when she was able to get coverage through the california health exchange following passage of

the aca. and let me quote, it was like heaven. i cried. after all these years of struggling to obtain coverage, i was able to get insurance through the california exchange, no questions asked about my pre-existing conditions. the premium was worth $200 a month as compared to the $2500 to $3000 monthly premium payments i would have to pay before the aca if i can even get an insurer to offer me coverage. as she further explained, and i quote, people just don't understand what it was like, the incredible fear before the affordable care act. --ing to worry about being covering medical expenses and not being able to find affordable insurance.

we can't afford to go back to those days when americans could be denied coverage or charged exorbitant amounts. that's what is at stake for many of us for america with this nomination, and that's why the questions we will ask and the views hopefully that you will share with us are so important. days from thet 22 election, mr. chairman. states.s underway in 40 senate republicans are pressing forward, full speed ahead, to consolidate the court that will carry their policies forward with, i hope, some review for the will of the american people. president trump said last week that he had "instructed my representatives to stop negotiation over a covid-19 leave package until after the election."