Cunningham says Supreme Court vacancy should wait, but he’d meet with Amy Coney Barrett
Citing the need for a “good, thorough job interview,” Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham said he would meet individually with Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett if he were a member of the Senate.
He would not commit to voting for or against her nomination, saying it’s wrong for Republican Sen. Thom Tillis to support her before a full vetting.
Coney Barrett, nominated by President Donald Trump on Saturday to fill the vacancy left by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, plans to meet with Tillis Wednesday afternoon. She met with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday, the first in a series of traditional meetings with senators considering her nomination.
“No question I would meet with her,” Cunningham said in a telephone interview with McClatchy on Tuesday morning.
Senate Republicans have set an aggressive timetable for her nomination. The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin hearings on Oct. 12. A vote could come before the Nov. 3 election, something that Cunningham opposes.
He said the Republicans’ “full speed ahead” approach is injecting more partisanship into the process.
“It should be the next president and the next Senate that takes this up, including if Trump is successful,” Cunningham said. “We should not do this in the midst of an election that is very, very divisive. We need to build up the legitimacy of this court and not continue to tear at it.”
Cunningham’s election opponent, incumbent Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Tillis said he supports Coney Barrett and wants to see a vote before Nov. 3. Senate Republicans appear to have the votes to confirm Coney Barrett.
“She is a strong conservative choice who would uphold the Constitution, and interpret the law as written. She understands the job of a Supreme Court justice isn’t to legislate from the bench and I’m confident she’ll protect the religious freedom and liberty of all Americans,” Tillis said in a statement.
Cunningham’s criteria
Cunningham accused Tillis of giving Trump a “blank check” and giving Coney Barrett “a pass on her job interview.” When it comes to filling the vacancy, he said he would be “an independent check and balance.”
Cunningham said he would need to evaluate whether Coney Barrett met his criteria, including qualifications, diversity, respect for precedent and equality under the law and an understanding of the impact of their rulings on the lives of individuals.
“She needs a good, thorough job interview. What I won’t do for this president or even if it’s a President Biden is write a blank check to approve someone sight unseen,” said Cunningham, a lawyer who said he’d like to serve on the judiciary committee. “That’s what Sen. Tillis has done. We all need to thoughtfully consider her qualifications.”
Tillis voted to confirm Coney Barrett to the appellate court in 2017. He also voted for Trump’s previous two Supreme Court nominees — Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Tillis has attacked Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for, unlike Trump, not releasing the names of people he would consider for the Supreme Court. He said it is because voters would not approve of the names. Cunningham said after last week’s debate that he would “counsel against” releasing such a list, saying it would “inject partisanship” into the court.
Tillis was in the Senate in 2016 when the Republican majority did not hold hearings for Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s nominee, citing the coming election. Tillis said this is a different situation because Trump, unlike Obama, is up for reelection and because the Senate is controlled by the same party as the president.
Democrats are furious over what they see as a double standard between 2016 and 2020 with Ginsburg’s death coming so close to the election. More than 275,000 North Carolina voters have already cast their absentee by-mail ballots.
“Normally, this process takes not weeks, but months,” Cunningham said. “Part of why I would meet with her is to ask her questions about the things I would be looking for, that North Carolinians would be looking for. A good public, thorough process in the Senate is a way we evaluate those things.”
Outside liberal and conservative groups that focus on judicial nominees have targeted North Carolina in an expensive ad battle. Demand Justice, a liberal group, has pledged to spend $10 million opposing Coney Barrett’s nomination, including a television ad in North Carolina targeting Tillis. The Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative group, is also planning to spend $10 million — part of a $25 million blitz from conservative groups, according to Politico, pushing for confirmation — on ads, including in North Carolina.
Cunningham and Tillis will meet in their third and final debate of the campaign Thursday. Cunningham has held a persistent lead in polling throughout the summer, including in new polls released this week. The race is considered a toss-up and could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate in January.
Affordable Care Act and Roe v Wade
Cunningham said he’d want to ask Coney Barrett questions about her views on the Affordable Care Act, the 2010 health care law passed under Obama that will be before the court in November. He said he has read her 2017 law review article critical of the court’s previous decision to uphold the ACA.
“It’s another way health care is suddenly about to be on the ballot. It’s why we ought to do this after the dust settles after an election,” Cunningham said. “It’s all things we as a nation and a Senate should be thoughtfully evaluating ... I wouldn’t say any of these things on their face are disqualifying.”
If Coney Barrett were seated, the court’s ideological shift to the right could set in motion the overturning of 1973’s Roe v. Wade abortion-rights decision. Cunningham said he believes “a woman’s choice is a woman’s right” and that “a justice should appreciate the significance of that precedent.”
Cunningham said the balance between the rights of corporate interests and individuals “needs to be part of a discussion about who we are putting on the court.,” citing the minimum wage, child labor laws, paid family leave and the Citizens United decision about money in politics.
“I think it has introduced a stunning degree of corrupting influence in our politics,” Cunningham said, disagree with the conservative majority in the case.
Coney Barrett, a Catholic, has faced questions about whether her faith would influence her decisions. Cunningham said he is an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church who married a Catholic in the Catholic Church.
“All of those people who are of faith, like myself, bring that part of us into all these policy discussions and debate,” Cunningham said. “That is to her credit that she is a person of faith, and I strongly advise any person to only give respect to the fact that she is a person of faith.”
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This story was originally published September 29, 2020 at 12:49 PM.
