For immediate release: Monday, October 26, 2020, 7:10 PM CDT from National Right to Life Committee

WASHINGTON -- The president of the nation's oldest and largest pro-life organization this evening commended President Trump and Senate Republicans for overcoming intense political attacks to successfully seat Amy Coney Barrett as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Senate, including Tennessee Senators Lamar Alexander and Marsha Blackburn, voted 52-48 to confirm Barrett, with all 47 Senate Democrats voting in opposition (joined by only a single Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine).

Carol Tobias, president of National Right Life, commented: "On behalf of Americans who treasure the rights protected by the Constitution, including the right to life, we commend President Trump and Senate Republicans for their landmark achievement of placing three advocates of judicial restraint on the Supreme Court. They accomplished this in the face of increasingly rabid political threats from Democrat-aligned interest groups and their media allies, and escalating threats of attacks on the independence of the Supreme Court by many Senate Democrats. I speak for millions of Americans who believe that the President, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, and the Republican Party collectively deserve our deepest gratitude and our energetic support."

Some have objected to Senate action on the Barrett nomination on grounds that "millions of Americans have already voted" in advance of the November 3 general election. NRL Senior Policy Advisor Douglas Johnson commented:  "Those who refer to this nomination and confirmation as 'illegitimate' speak constitutional nonsense and dangerous nonsense. Under the Constitution, two things are required to seat a Supreme Court justice -- the President's nomination, and the Senate's consent; in 2016 the Senate exercised its constitutional prerogative to withhold consent. The 100 senators who voted today were elected by about 125 million Americans, and they were elected to represent their constituents at least until January 3, 2021--most for years longer. All 100 discharged that constitutional function today. The constituents of senators in cycle will very soon have the opportunity to express their approval or disapproval of their senators' votes on Amy Coney Barrett. All of this is a fully legitimate exercise of the constitutional order."

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of 50 state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, NRLC works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.

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