Amy Coney Barrett: key moments from the supreme court confirmation hearings – video

Amy Coney Barrett spent most of her time avoiding key questions during three days of Senate hearings to confirm her as a supreme court justice. 

Barrett would become the third justice on the court to be appointed by Donald Trump – and her confirmation would give conservatives a bulletproof, six-justice majority on the nine-member court, which decides cases by a simple majority.

Barrett, a conservative Christian who has criticized the high court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act (ACA), who has publicly opposed reproductive rights and who was a trustee at a school whose handbook included a stated opposition to same-sex marriage, is seen on the left as part of a power play by Donald Trump 

Continue reading...

Trump’s attacks on Obamacare could cost him in Texas and Florida

Number of uninsured Americans surges – and provokes a movement that might shape the results in two key states

When Donald Trump began campaigning for the presidency that he captured in 2016, he promised to decimate the Affordable Care Act. His agenda was in no way hidden. “It’s gotta go,” Trump said of the ACA in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash. “Repeal and replace with something terrific.”

More than five years later, the president still hasn’t articulated a plan for a system...

Amy Coney Barrett pledges ‘open mind’ and plays down conservative record

  • Nominee avoids answering directly on how she would rule
  • Lindsey Graham hails ‘woman who is unashamedly pro-life’

Judge Amy Coney Barrett, Donald Trump’s nominee to the US supreme court, promised to keep an “open mind” when considering cases before the court during a final round of questioning on Wednesday, as Republicans declared her confirmation all but assured despite Democrats’ forceful opposition.

Members of the Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday att...