11:07 a.m. ET, October 15, 2020
Mitch McConnell says he will start Senate floor consideration of Barrett's nomination next Friday
From CNN's Phil Mattingly
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, speaking after casting his vote in Louisville, said he would plan to put Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination on the Senate floor Oct. 23.
“We’ll go to the floor with her on Friday the 23rd and stay on her 'til we finish,” McConnell told reporters.
What this means: Moving to consider Barrett’s nomination on the floor on Oct. 23 would tee up her final confirmation vote for the first half of the week of Oct. 26.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday set the committee vote to approve Barrett’s nomination for next Thursday, Oct. 22
McConnell, as expected, said he’d been watching the hearings very closely and had high praise for the nominee.
“This is an outstanding nominee if you had a chance to watch her,” McConnell said. “She’s absolutely brilliant, able to fend off all the questions in an appropriate way for a judicial nominee. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg set the standard fo what you should and shouldn’t say in one of these confirmation hearings and what you shouldn’t say is how you’re going to rule on anything in the future and she stuck to that Ginsburg rule flawlessly.”
McConnell also reiterated his view of the wave of judicial confirmations since President Trump took office.
“This whole business of confirming judges has been, I think, the most important thing we’ve done.”