The 12 Republican members of the Senate judicial committee voted Thursday in favor of the Supreme Court nomination of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, paving the way for the full Senate to vote on her nomination next Monday.
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Democrats had chosen to boycott the audience and not show up, so there was no one to object to the nomination, which passed 12-0.
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Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, called it “surreal” that Democrats had not attended the vote and criticized the placement of pictures on their chairs, calling it “theater.”
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Committee Democrats, for their part, had said they would boycott Thursday’s hearing and vote, hoping to prevent the committee from achieving a sufficient quorum to carry out the vote. But the Republicans went ahead with the vote, in his absence.
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“Judge Barrett deserves a vote and she will receive a vote,” the chairman of that committee, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, had said on Wednesday, criticizing that the Democrats’ decision not to attend, “does them no favors.”
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Senate judicial committee rules state that at least nine members of the majority (in this case Republicans) and at least two members of the minority (Democrats) must be present to vote. However, these rules have been ignored on numerous occasions and it is not the first time that the Committee has moved forward with a decision without the presence of at least two members of the minority.
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Still, the Democrats, who will give a conference in the next few hours, are expected to accuse Graham of breaking the Committee’s nets to rush the nomination.
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