U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan met with Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett and came away impressed.
“Let me begin by congratulating you,” he said in a video the senator’s office posted on YouTube. “You have a very impressive background.”
Sullivan later said he spoke to the nominee about laws and court decisions concerning Alaska land use, and about gun-owner rights.
“She is a strong, strong defender of the Second Amendment,” Sullivan said in a second video.
Senate Republicans seem to be on track to confirm Barrett for the seat that was Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s.
Sullivan, like most of his Republican colleagues, supports taking up the nomination now, in an election year. He opposed it in 2016, when Democrat Barack Obama was president, citing the principle that voters should weigh in first.
“Alaskans, like all Americans, are in the midst of an important national election. The next Supreme Court justice could fundamentally change the direction of the Court for years to come,” Sullivan said in a 2016 press release. “Alaskans deserve to have a voice in that direction through their vote, and we will ensure that they have one.”
Sullivan added more details last week when he explained the election year principle.
“The historical precedent and principle of an election year nomination to the Supreme Court, dating back to the founding of our republic, is that the Senate has generally confirmed a President’s nominee from its own party and not confirmed one from the opposing party,” Sullivan said in a Sept. 22 press release.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
