releases: https://www.coons.senate.gov/news/press-releases/video-sen-coons-republicans-in-the-senate-and-president-trump-keep-trying-to-overturn-affordable-care-act
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.coons.senate.gov/news/press-releases/video-sen-coons-republicans-in-the-senate-and-president-trump-keep-trying-to-overturn-affordable-care-act | [VIDEO] Sen. Coons: ‘Republicans in the Senate and President Trump keep trying to overturn’ Affordable Care Act | 2020-10-11 | 2020 | 2020-10 | Democrat | House | DE | Christopher Coons | C001088 | www.coons.senate.gov | legacy | WILMINGTON, Del.Today, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined Chris Wallace on Fox News to discuss the upcoming Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett. I'm going to be laying out the ways in which Judge Barrett's views, her views on reaching back and reconsidering and overturning long settled precedent are not just extreme, they're disqualifying. She has taught at a well-regarded law school, she clerked for Justice Scalia, but she has views that make her not qualified to serve on the Supreme Court. President Trump has said he would only nominate someone who would overturn the Affordable Care Act taking away health care protections for more than 100 million Americans in the middle the pandemic and members of the majority on this committee have said they would only vote for a nominee who would overturnRoe v. Wade,said Senator Coons. Senator Coons added,When I spoke with a constituent here in Delaware last week, someone with a pre-existing condition, she said I thought this was settled, I thought years ago that the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act. I said that's right, but Republicans in the Senate and President Trump keep trying to overturn it, this is their last desperate measure to jam someone on the Court to accomplish that goal by Supreme Court decision what they could not accomplish by legislative action in the Congress. Full audio and video availablehere. A transcript is provided below. Q: Senator Coons, your caucus just plain does not have the votes at this point to block Judge Barrett's nomination to the Court, so what is your strategy for the hearings this week? Sen. Coons:Well, I'm going to be laying out the ways in which Judge Barrett's views, her views on reaching back and reconsidering and overturning long settled precedent are not just extreme, they're disqualifying. She has taught at a well-regarded law school, she clerked for Justice Scalia, but she has views that make her not qualified to serve on the Supreme Court. President Trump has said he would only nominate someone who would overturn the Affordable Care Act taking away health care protections for more than 100 million Americans in the middle the pandemic and both President Trump and members of the majority on this committee have said they would only vote for a nominee who would overturnRoe v. Wade. As I will lay out in my questioning this week, we should not be having this hearing with two members of the committee infected with Covid. It is rushed, it constitutes court packing, and her views are too extreme to qualify her to serve on this Court. Q: Let me point out there's been a number of hearings since Covid began that had virtual membership participation by some of the senators. So this is nothing new in this period of time. I want to get back to your main point. Based on her writings and even some of her votes as a judge in the Seventh Circuit, do you have any doubt that a Justice Barrett would vote to overturn Obamacare and would vote to either overturn or restrict a woman's right to abortion? Sen. Coons:I think she's made that very clear in recent writings. Frankly, don't just believe me, believe President Trump. He said publicly I would only nominate someone who will overturn the Affordable Care Act. Judge Barrett directly criticized Chief Justice Roberts just three years ago saying that his decision eight years ago upholding the Affordable Care Act stretched the plausible limits of the text and criticized him for not being a proper textualist. This is hard for your average American to follow, I think. When I spoke with a constituent here in Delaware last week, someone with a pre-existing condition, she said I thought this was settled, I thought years ago that the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act. I said that's right, but Republicans in the Senate and President Trump keep trying to overturn it, this is their last desperate measure to jam someone on the Court to accomplish that goal by Supreme Court decision what they could not accomplish by legislative action in the Congress. ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |