Klobuchar calls for postponement of Supreme Court hearing: ‘We don’t know how many other Republican senators had’ COVID-19

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said Sunday that three Republican senators testing positive for the coronavirus indicated hearings for President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee should be postponed.

“We’ve got the fact that three senators have it, two are on the Judiciary Committee … we don’t know how many other Republican senators had it,” Klobuchar said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) have all tested positive for the virus in recent days. Tillis and Lee both sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Several people who have since tested positive attended a White House Rose Garden ceremony for the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Barrett has herself tested negative.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on why Senate needs to postpone Amy Coney Barrett vote: “We don’t know how many other Republican senators had it … I don’t know why you would ram through this Supreme Court hearing, put people in danger …” pic.twitter.com/1CcZRDkHW2

— The Recount (@therecount) October 4, 2020

“[Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell [R-Ky.] has shut the Senate down … because of health concerns,” Klobuchar said on Sunday. “There were a number of other [GOP senators] that were at the Rose Garden. They have a lunch together where they don’t wear masks, we don’t do that on the Democratic side. They do. And so it’s very possible we’re going to have more senators, more staff.”

“So I don’t know why you would ram through this Supreme Court hearing, put people in danger because it would be within that two-week period, while you have shut down the whole Senate,” she added. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said the Senate will only meet in pro forma sessions for the next two weeks following the positive tests of the three GOP senators.

Fox News’s Chris Wallace noted that the Judiciary Committee, of which Klobuchar is a member, has held virtual hearings before and that Klobuchar earlier praised the panel’s chairman, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), for arranging them.

“This is for the highest court of the land and yes, we have had virtual hearings… but you need to be able to go back and forth with the nominee,” Klobuchar responded, citing Barrett’s history on the Affordable Care Act. In particular, she noted Barrett’s repeated criticisms of Chief Justice John Roberts, whom Klobuchar called “not exactly a blazing liberal,” for ruling in favor of the law.