Biden urges Senate Republicans not to take action on Supreme Court from The Queen in Wilmington

Speaking from The Queen in Wilmington Sunday afternoon, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden lambasted President Donald Trump's decision to make a Supreme Court nomination 38 days before the presidential election.

Biden urged Senate Republicans to not take action on the vacancy left by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on Sept. 18 at age 87, until the American people vote in November.

"To call ourselves a democracy, their voices must be heard," Biden said from the brightly lit theater stage Sunday.

A day earlier, Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett, a 48-year-old conservative-leaning federal appeals court judge from Indiana, marking his third Supreme Court nomination in almost four years. Trump and the majority of Senate Republicans plan to move quickly to confirm Barrett before the election is decided, a race in which polls show Trump trailing.

Should they be successful, conservative judges on the high court would outnumber their liberal counterparts 6-3. In his remarks Sunday, Biden said that result would lead to the revocation of the Affordable Care Act and could threaten voting rights, abortion rights and other standing laws and policies that benefit Americans.

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"It doesn’t matter what the American people want," Biden said. "President Trump sees a chance to fulfill his explicit mission to steal away the vital protections of the ACA from countless families who have come to rely on them for their health, their financial security and the lives of those they love."

In a ceremony announcing Barrett's nomination Saturday, Trump called the judge "one of our nation's most brilliant and gifted legal minds." He said her confirmation should be "straightforward," "prompt," and "extremely non-controversial."

If the Affordable Care Act is removed, millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions could be denied coverage. Complications from COVID-19, which has been contracted by at least 7 million Americans, could become the "the next flood of pre-existing conditions used as an excuse to deny coverage to millions," Biden said.

Trump has said he plans to protect people with pre-existing conditions as part of a new national healthcare plan that is better than the Affordable Care Act, but has yet to share any details about his plan.

Calling on Republicans to wait to vote on Barrett's confirmation until after the election, Biden said the public deserves a say in who serves on the Supreme Court and that their voice can only be heard through who they elect to the Senate and the presidency.

He said voting now would "subvert law and precedence," and would represent "an irreversible step toward the brink." Biden urged Senate Republicans to "take off the blinders of politics."

So far, only two of the 53 Senate Republicans have said they will not vote in favor of Barrett's confirmation. The confirmation requires a simple majority.

"Just because you have the power to do something doesn't absolve you of the responsibility to do right by the people," Biden said.

The Supreme Court has become one of the central focuses of the presidential race, after Biden spent weeks criticizing Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic in speeches from various places in and around Wilmington, the unforeseen center of his campaign.

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The former vice president, however, is slated to travel to Cleveland to debate Trump Tuesday night in the first of three presidential debates.

In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper that aired Sunday morning, Jill Biden discussed Biden's preparedness for the debate, Trump's attacks against the Biden family and how educators can adjust during the pandemic.

Jill Biden said the debate will showcase a contrast in styles between the steady and calm Biden and Trump, who she says is responsible for the "chaos" that has enveloped the country.

She called the Trump's attacks, which include his recent retweeting of an image baselessly accusing Biden of being a pedophile, a distraction from the core issues of the campaign.

"I expected it," the former second lady said. "We know who Donald Trump is. We've known for four years and I expected it. We're a tough family."

Contact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @holveck_brandon.