Amy Coney Barrett Supreme Court nomination

On September 26, 2020, President Donald Trump announced the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to fill in the vacancy left by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. At the time of her nomination, Barrett was a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, Illinois. The Senate received word from the president (when a Supreme Court nomination becomes official) on September 29. On October 26, the Senate voted to confirm Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court, with 52 of 53 Republicans voting in favor, while Susan Collins and all 47 Democrats voted against; Barrett took the judicial oath on October 27. Democrats rebuked Republicans and accused them of hypocrisy, stating that they had violated their own interpretation of the Biden rule, which they set in 2016 when they refused to consider then-President Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland more than nine months before the end of his term. The 35 days between the nomination and the 2020 presidential election marked the shortest period of time between a nomination to the Supreme Court and a presidential election in U.S. history. Background Under the Appointments Clause (Article II, Section 2) of the United States Constitution, judicial appointments are made by the President of the United States with the Advice and Consent of the United States Senate. Ginsburg was nominated to the Supreme Court by Bill Clinton on June 14, 1993, to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of Byron White. The confirmation process was relatively short at six weeks, and she was approved by the Senate by a 96–3 vote on August 3, 1993. Ginsburg's tenure on the court led to her being described as one of the most important and iconic Supreme Court justices to liberals since Thurgood Marshall, and she was considered the left's counterbalance to Antonin Scalia on the right.