One of the concerns raised during Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court was the possibility that President Trump was packing the court as an insurance policy in case he lost the general election. Here is an Associated Press report on September 30:

President Donald Trump’s stark expectation that the Supreme Court will intervene to “look at the ballots” in what he calls a rigged election casts new questions Wednesday on the Senate’s rush to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett for the vacant seat before Nov. 3.

Barrett was on Capitol Hill for a second day meeting with senators ahead of confirmation hearings as lawmakers of both parties brace for the potential of delayed election night results or a disputed presidential election that lands before the high court.

Rather than lead Americans to uphold voting traditions, Trump is sowing seeds of doubt by insisting throughout the first presidential debate with Joe Biden that the election will be fraudulent if he is not re-elected, even though voter fraud is rare in the United States. One analysis found Americans were more likely to be struck by lightning.

“I’m counting on them to look at the ballots, definitely,” Trump said about the Supreme Court.

(The Associated Press certainly called that one. Not surprisingly, I did not find this article in the Wheeling Intelligencer’ archive.)

While quickly pushing Barrett’s nomination through the Senate, West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito and her Republican colleagues repeatedly attempted to reassure the American public of the nominee’s integrity and commitment to the Constitution. Here is one of Capito tweets in which she praises Barrett:

Justice Barrett will be an impartial and fair judge who will interpret the Constitution as written. She recognizes her role is not one of a policy maker, but as an arbiter of equal justice under the law. pic.twitter.com/b9DbHKSBW3

— Shelley Moore Capito (@SenCapito) October 27, 2020

(See also her Senate web page.)

Barrett was quickly confirmed.

However, the increasingly likely possibility that Joe Biden will win the electoral college has once again raised the possibility of a court challenge of the election by Trump. Here is Trump’s campaign adviser on Fox:

Trump campaign legal adviser: "We're waiting for the United States Supreme Court - of which the President has nominated three justices - to step in and do something. And hopefully Amy Coney Barrett will come through" pic.twitter.com/Z4bfBqsks5

— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) November 5, 2020

(Amazing -- she isn’t even trying to be subtle about it.)

Could some out-of-state reporter ask Senator Capito whether she approves of this and whether this is why she and the rest of the Senate quickly confirmed Barrett’s nomination? So far, Capito and her Republican colleagues have said nothing about the President’s attacks upon the integrity of the electoral process. Hey, you won your election, Senator. Why not do the right thing and speak-up?

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