Biden urges Democrats to focus on healthcare not Supreme Court expansion
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden gives a speech on the Supreme Court at The Queen Theater, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
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WILMINGTON, Del. (NewsNation Now) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden delivered remarks on the U.S. Supreme Court and health care in Wilmington, Delaware Sunday.
Biden made it clear in his Sunday address that opposition towards President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, will focus on the possibility she could cast a decisive vote to strike down the Obamacare health law.
“It doesn’t matter to them that millions of Americans are already voting on a new President and a new Congress,” Biden said. “They see an opportunity to overturn the Affordable Care Act on their way out the door.”
In a White House Rose Garden ceremony on Saturday, Trump announced Barrett, 48, as his selection to replace liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on Sept. 18 at age 87. Barrett said she would be a justice in the mold of her mentor, the late staunch conservative Antonin Scalia, who twice voted in favor of previous unsuccessful Obamacare challenges.
Her confirmation would result in a 6-3 conservative majority on the court. Barrett could be on the court’s bench for oral arguments on Nov. 10 in a case in which Trump and his Republican allies are seeking to invalidate the Affordable Care Act.
Biden tied the fate of the law to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, in which more than 200,000 Americans have died.
“The clear focus is: this is about your healthcare. This is about whether or not the ACA will exist. This is about whether or not pre-existing conditions will continue to be covered. This is about whether or not a woman can be charged more for the same procedure as a man. This is about people’s healthcare in the middle of a pandemic,” Biden said.
Biden echoed his call that the winner of the presidential election should get to appoint the new justice.
Trump said on Twitter on Sunday that if the Supreme Court strikes down the health law, “Obamacare will be replaced with a MUCH better, and FAR cheaper, alternative.”
Trump failed in attempts to repeal Obamacare when Republicans controlled the Senate and House of Representatives, and Republicans have yet to say what they would replace the law with.
The president and the First Lady are scheduled to host a reception in honor of Gold Star families Sunday at 6 p.m. ET following a news briefing at the White House.
