Susan Collins, Joni Ernst and Martha McSally Defend Obamacare as They Vote for Judges Who Will Kill It
Defying public-health guidelines and putting senators at risk to elevate a favorite judge to the second highest court in the land, Mitch McConnell behaves like a man who knows his time is running out. He’s already filled some 200 federal judgeships with young, Federalist Society approved conservatives poised to overturn the Affordable Care Act.
With the election looking iffy for the president, McConnell has dropped all pretense of an unbiased judiciary in his rush to beat the clock. At a sparsely attended Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday morning, 37-year-old Kentucky District Judge Justin Walker, a McConnell favorite who’s trashed Obamacare in dozens of appearances on Fox News, defended his trail of partisan comments, including calling the Supreme Court decision to uphold the ACA “catastrophic” and “indefensible,” and mocking Chief Justice Roberts rationale ruling it a tax as “the worst words” handed down.
“Why in the middle of a pandemic would we support a nominee who would take health care away from millions of people,” asked California Democrat Dianne Feinstein. “It’s not the role of a judge to opine on health-care policy,” Walker replied, falling back on the standard dodge that if elevated to the DC Circuit Court, he would respect precedence and “go where the law leads.”