Democrats slam Amy Coney Barrett for not telling senators she signed on to a 2006 letter calling the legacy of Roe v. Wade 'barbaric'

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Democrats slam Amy Coney Barrett for not telling senators she signed on to a 2006 letter calling the legacy of Roe v. Wade 'barbaric'
Judge Amy Coney Barrett is nominated to the US Supreme Court by President Donald Trump in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC on September 26, 2020.Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
  • Democrats on Tuesday slammed Judge Amy Coney Barrett for not disclosing to senators that she signed a letter 14 years ago that called the legacy of Roe v. Wade "barbaric."
  • In 2006, Barrett signed a two-page newspaper ad by a group called St. Joseph County Right to Life that advocated overturning Roe v. Wade.
  • President Donald Trump last month nominated Barrett, who sits on the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals, to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat on the Supreme Court.
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Democrats on Tuesday slammed Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, for not telling senators she signed a 2006 letter that called the legacy of Roe v. Wade "barbaric."

"Judiciary Committee Democrats want to know why it wasn't disclosed and if other materials were left off her Senate Judiciary Questionnaire," Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Feinstein and other Democratic senators, including Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Beth Williams asking whether any other information was not disclosed on Barrett's questionnaire.

The two-page ad with the letter, from a group called St. Joseph County Right to Life, also known as Right to Life Michiana, appeared in the South Bend Tribune in 2006. "It's time to put an end to the barbaric legacy of Roe v. Wade and restore laws that protect the lives of unborn children," it said.

Barrett did not disclose the document to the Senate ahead of her confirmation hearing, which is still expected to take place this month despite Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calling off Senate work after several Republican lawmakers tested positive for COVID-19.

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She also did not disclose the ad in her 2017 Senate Judiciary questionnaire when she was nominated for her seat on the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

Barrett is Trump's pick to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last month at 87.

Barrett's views on reproductive rights and healthcare have been heavily scrutinized, though she has said her religious views would not affect her jurisprudence.

Her confirmation would give the Supreme Court a 6-3 conservative majority.

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