Elizabeth Warren Says She Won't Meet With 'Extremist' Amy Coney Barrett
BOSTON (CBS) -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, is joining a growing number of Democratic senators who say they won't meet with Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald's Trump's pick to fill the Supreme Court seat of late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
"I will not be meeting with Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee," Warren said in a statement. "I will not lend legitimacy to Mitch McConnell's efforts to steal another Supreme Court seat."
It's tradition for Supreme Court nominees to meet with senators of both parties before confirmation hearings, but Democrats like Warren say trying to fill the seat so close to a presidential election makes the nomination "illegitimate."
Warren also attacked Barrett's record as a conservative jurist.
"The nominee has already made it clear that she will try to deliver a death blow to health care coverage for millions of Americans and to erase protection for people with pre-existing conditions," Warren said. "She's an extremist who was picked to overturn Roe v. Wade, rubber stamp Trump's attacks on immigrants, strip away voting rights, and complete the decades-long assault on our judiciary by billionaires and giant corporations to tilt the courts in their favor."
Other Democratic senators including Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, Bob Casey, Jeff Merkley, Richard Blumenthal and Mazie Hirono have also said they won't meet with Barrett, CBS News reports.
Barrett has already started to meet with Republican senators. Confirmation hearings are expected to begin on Oct. 12.
