In a rush of statements following Barrett's Rose Garden introduction, top Democrats put the fate of the law -- and its popular protections for patients with pre-existing conditions -- front and center. They also made frequent reference to the coronavirus pandemic, and the chaos that could arise from stripping health insurance options from millions of Americans in its midst.
From the Democratic presidential ticket on down, criticism of Barrett repeatedly circled back to what has been a political winner for the party: health care -- and the backlash to Republican efforts to dismantle the ACA, former President Barack Obama's signature policy achievement.
"President Trump has been trying to throw out the Affordable Care Act for four years. Republicans have been trying to end it for a decade. Twice, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law as constitutional," Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, Obama's vice president, said in a statement. "But even now, in the midst of a global health pandemic, the Trump Administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the entire law, including its protections for people with pre-existing conditions."
Biden made specific reference to some of the lingering tolls of the illness, including scarring of the lungs and heart damage, describing those complications as "the next deniable pre-existing condition."
Democrats have been weighing a number of options in how they plan to frame their opposition to Barrett's nomination. Her writings on abortion rights, and the expectation among most liberals and many conservatives that she would side with a decision to undermine or overturn Roe v. Wade, were also cited by a number of Democrats on Saturday and in the run-up the White House ceremony.
Republicans' decision to move forward with the nomination, in defiance of the logic of their blockade of Obama's pick, Merrick Garland, in 2016, has been woven into Democrats' initial argument against Barrett.
Zeroing in on health care
California Sen. Kamala Harris, Biden's running mate and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold Barrett's confirmation hearings, made only one passing mention of the nominee in her own statement. "Republicans are desperate to get Judge Barrett confirmed before the Supreme Court takes up this case in November and millions of Americans will suffer for their power play," she said.
Harris took aim at Trump, too, saying the President had effectively created a "litmus test" for his Supreme Court nominees: "Destroy the Affordable Care Act's protections for people with preexisting conditions and overturn our right to make our own health care decisions."
That message was echoed in the words of the Senate's top-ranking Democrats: Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and Washington Sen. Patty Murray.
Schumer was the most direct, drawing a straight line between Barrett's confirmation and the fate of the ACA.
"The American people should make no mistake—a vote by any Senator for Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a vote to str
