这确认听证会唐纳德·特朗普总统提名的最高法院大法官艾米·科尼·巴雷特周三继续接受了七个多小时的质询。
尽管民主党人反对，参议院共和党人仍在继续推动选举日之前的最后投票呼吁让选民决定谁应该选择新的法官。
法宝提名巴雷特填补已故大法官鲁斯·巴德·金斯伯格留下的空缺。
由主席林赛·格雷厄姆监督的为期四天的参议院司法委员会听证会是前所未有的，一些成员以虚拟方式亲自参加。巴雷特已经在证人席上出现了两天，总共19个小时面对问题。
听证会每天上午9点开始，将进行直播美国广播公司新闻直播。
问答部分周二开始民主党人辩称，巴雷特的提名可能会危及对医疗保健和同性婚姻等里程碑式案件的保护，而共和党人则为她提供了捍卫法官公正性的机会。
48岁的巴雷特是保守派法官安东宁·斯卡利亚的书记员，遵循他对宪法最初的解释。在回到母校圣母院法学院教书之前，她在华盛顿的一家律师事务所实习了两年。她于2017年被特朗普提名为美国第七巡回上诉法院法官，并在参议院以55比43的投票中得到确认。
对巴雷特的质疑得出结论
经过七个多小时和两次技术故障，巴雷特确认听证会的第二轮提问已经结束。
格雷厄姆主席说，他在听证会上“失眠”，但他最终感谢民主党人在给特朗普的提名人一些鼓励的话之前，以一种“适合参议院”的方式表现自己。
格雷厄姆告诉巴雷特:“你是我一生中见过的最神奇的人之一，这说明了很多，因为我见过很多不可思议的人。”。"有了艾米·巴雷特，最好的还在后头."
格雷厄姆在谈到金斯堡大法官时告诉巴雷特，“她与你在司法方面有着不同的哲学。那是可以的。”
“我希望你可以支持生活，坚持你的信仰，并且仍然被你的公民认为是称职的。”
也许知道共和党人有票确认巴雷特，民主党人没有要求第三轮提问。相反，委员会成员将推进提名过程的下一步，即听证会后立即举行闭门会议，审查巴雷特的联邦调查局背景调查。
“如果你愿意，今晚你可以喝两杯，”格雷厄姆开玩笑说，重复道，听证会结束了。"
巴雷特回避哈里斯关于投票权、气候变化的问题
加利福尼亚州副总统候选人参议员卡玛拉·哈里斯(Kamala Harris)问巴雷特，她是否同意首席大法官罗伯茨在谢尔比县诉霍尔德案(Shelby County v. Holder)中写的多数意见，即选民歧视仍然存在——但巴雷特不愿回答哈里斯说她认为很容易回答的问题。
安德鲁·卡瓦列罗-雷诺/盖蒂图片库
2020年10月14日，参议员卡马拉·哈里斯在华盛顿通过视频会议向最高法院提名法官艾米·科尼·巴雷特提问。
巴雷特说:“哈里斯参议员，我不会评论任何法官所说的话，一个观点，无论一个观点是对还是错，并支持这个提议。”。
“那么，你把它叫做命题还是事实?你是说你不同意这个事实吗?”哈里斯追问。
“参议员，我不知道你让我支持这个事实到底是什么意思，或者任何特定的做法是否构成选民歧视。巴雷特说:“我很高兴地说，我认为种族歧视在美国仍然存在，我认为今年夏天我们已经看到了这方面的证据。
当哈里斯继续谈论选民和种族歧视时，她补充说:“这些都是在法院提起诉讼的非常激烈的问题，所以我不会讨论这个问题。”。
安德鲁·卡瓦列罗-雷诺兹/通过盖蒂图像池
2020年10月14日，在国会山举行的最高法院确认听证会的第三天，参议员卡马拉·哈里斯(Kamala Harris)通过视频会议向最高法院提名法官艾米·科尼·巴雷特(Amy Coney Barrett)提问，当时她正在参议院司法委员会作证。
哈里斯对她的回答不满意，转向科学和气候变化，在问了一系列简单的问题，包括她是否相信新冠肺炎后，她问巴雷特她是否相信气候变化是真实的。
巴雷特说:“你问了我一系列完全没有争议的问题，比如新冠肺炎是否有传染性，吸烟是否会导致癌症，然后试图类比得出我的观点，这是一个非常有争议的公共辩论问题，我不会那么做。”。
她没有提供信息，但巴雷特此前透露，她在今年夏天被诊断出患有新冠肺炎。
布克就种族问题向巴雷特施压，巴雷特说她想让她的孩子'尤其是薇薇安和约翰·彼得'知道她憎恶种族歧视
新泽西州参议员科里·布克说，当巴雷特告诉他，她没有读过任何关于我们刑事司法系统中存在的种族差异的研究或文章、书籍、法律评论文章或评论时，他感到失望。
巴雷特最终表示，她对这些席卷全国的问题的了解来自于在巴黎圣母院的对话。
“我想说，我对它的了解主要是通过与圣母大学的人们的交谈。就像在许多不同的大学里一样，这是课堂上的一个话题，但我不能说是的，我对此做过研究并读过，”她说。
塞缪尔·科伦/盖蒂影像公司
2020年10月14日，科里·布克参议员在国会山举行的参议院司法委员会确认最高法院提名人艾米·科尼·巴雷特听证会上发言。
在布克、参议员迈克·克拉波的提问后，爱达荷州给了巴雷特一个机会来为自己辩护，以免她“对所有人平等正义的必要性不敏感”。
巴雷特重申她“憎恶”种族歧视，并说她希望她的所有孩子，“特别是薇薇安和约翰·彼得”——她的两个收养的孩子——知道她“明确谴责种族主义”。
Amy Coney Barrett Senate confirmation hearings Day 3 highlights
Theconfirmation hearingsfor Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, continued Wednesday with seven more hours of questioning.
Senate Republicans are keeping up their push for a final vote before Election Day despite Democraticcalls to let voters decidewho should pick a new justice.
Trumpnominated Barrettto fill the seat left open by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The four days of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, overseen by Chairman Lindsey Graham, are unprecedented, with some members participating virtually and in-person. Barrett has appeared at the witness table to face questions for 19 hours total over two days.
Hearings begin at 9 a.m. each day and will be live streamed onABC News Live.
The question and answer portionbegan Tuesdaywith Democrats arguing protections from landmark cases on health care and same-sex marriage are at risk with Barrett's nomination, while Republicans afforded her opportunities to defend her impartiality as a judge.
Barrett, 48, was a law clerk to conservative Justice Antonin Scalia and follows his originalist interpretation of the Constitution. She practiced law at a Washington firm for two years before returning to her alma mater, Notre Dame Law School, to teach. She was nominated by Trump in 2017 to the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and confirmed by the Senate in a 55-43 vote.
Questioning of Barrett concludes
After more than seven hours and two technical glitches, the second round of questioning for Barrett’s confirmation hearings has concluded.
Chairman Graham said he "lost sleep" over the hearing, but he ultimately thanked Democrats for conducting themselves in a way, Graham says, that is "befitting of the Senate" before offering some words of encouragement to Trump's nominee.
"You’re one of the most amazing human beings I’ve met in my life, and that’s saying a lot because I’ve met a lot of incredible people," Graham told Barrett. "With Amy Barrett, the best is yet to come."
Referring to Justice Ginsburg, Graham told Barrett, "She has a different philosophy than you do judicially. That is OK."
"I hope it’s OK that you can be pro-life and adhere to you faith and still be considered by your citizens worthy on the job."
Perhaps knowing that Republicans have the votes to confirm Barrett, Democrats did not ask for a third round of questioning. Instead, committee members will move forward with the next step in the nomination process, a closed-door session to review Barrett's FBI background check immediately following the hearing.
"You can have two glasses of wine tonight if you’d like," Graham joked, repeating, the hearing part is over."
Barrett dodges questions from Harris on voting rights, climate change
Vice-presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., asked Barrett whether she agrees with the majority opinion written by Chief Justice Roberts in Shelby County v. Holder stating that voter discrimination still exists -- but Barrett wouldn’t answer what Harris said she thought was an easy question.
Sen. Kamala Harris questions Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett via videoconference in Washington, Oct.14, 2020.
"Senator Harris, I will not comment on what any justice said, an opinion, whether an opinion is right or wrong, and endorse that proposition," Barrett said.
"So, do you call it a proposition or fact? Are you saying you cannot agree with the fact?" Harris pressed.
"Senator, I'm not exactly sure what you're getting at with asking me to endorse the fact or whether any particular practice constitutes voter discrimination. I'm very happy to say that I think racial discrimination still exists in the United States, and I think we've seen evidence of that this summer," Barrett said.
"These are very charged issues that have been litigated in the courts, and so I will not engage on that question," she added, when Harris continued on voter and racial discrimination.
Sen. Kamala Harris questions Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett via videoconference as she testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the third day of her Supreme Court confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill, Oct. 14, 2020.
Dissatisfied with her response, Harris pivoted to science and climate change and, after a series of simple questions including whether she believes in COVID-19, asked Barrett if she believes climate change is real.
"You have asked me a series of questions like that are completely uncontroversial like whether COVID-19 is infectious, whether smoking causes cancer, and then trying to analogize that to eliciting an opinion from me that is a very contentious matter of public debate, and I will not do that," Barrett said.
She didn't offer the information, but Barrett has previously disclosed she was diagnosed with COVID-19 over the summer.
Booker presses Barrett on race, Barrett says she wants her children ‘especially Vivian and John Peter’ to know she abhors racial discrimination
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said he was disappointed when Barrett told him she had not read any studies or articles, books, law review articles or commentary regarding racial disparities present in our criminal justice system.
Barrett eventually said her knowledge of these issues roiling the country comes from conversations at Notre Dame.
"I would say what I have learned about it has mostly been in conversations with people at Notre Dame. As at many different universities it’s a topic of conversation in classrooms, but it's not something that I can say yes I've done research on this and read," she said.
Sen. Cory Booker speaks during the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on Capitol Hill on October 14, 2020 in Washington.
Following questioning from Booker, Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho gave Barrett a chance to defend herself from the "implication" that she would "not be sensitive to the need for equal justice for all."
Barrett reaffirmed that she "abhors" racial discrimination and said she would want all of her children, "especially Vivian and John Peter" -- her two adopted children -- to know that she "unequivocally condemns racism."
