U.S. Supreme Court

Updated at 11:30 a.m. ET

Amy Coney Barrett, President Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, sat for nearly 20 hours of questioning by 22 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee over two days. At the outset of the process, Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham acknowledged that her confirmation by the panel was all but guaranteed.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett declined to answer a question Wednesday from Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., about whether the Supreme Court ruling that protects the right to buy and use contraception was correctly decided.

The 7-2 decision in Griswold v. Connecticut is viewed as the basis for Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized a woman's right to abortion nationwide.

Updated at 2:33 p.m. ET

The Senate Judiciary Committee held its fourth and final day of hearings on Thursday on President Trump's nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court.

If confirmed, Barrett, 48, would replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the high court.

Updated at 10:40 p.m. ET

The Trump administration can end counting for the 2020 census early after the Supreme Court approved a request to suspend a lower court order that extended the count's schedule.

The Republican-controlled Senate returns this month in a high-stakes gamble: Three members tested positive for the coronavirus as the Senate is moving full steam ahead to confirm a new justice to the Supreme Court.

Republicans condemned what they called inappropriate criticism and questioning about Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett's Catholic identity as her confirmation hearing opened on Monday. Democrats did not bring up her faith in Monday's hearing.

Barrett is a devout Catholic, alumna of Notre Dame and member of a small, conservative faith group called the People of Praise.

Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst zeroed in on the issue of gender at Monday's confirmation hearing for Amy Coney Barrett. She used her opening statement to link herself to Barrett "as a fellow mom, a fellow Midwesterner" and accused Democrats of launching attacks on the judge's religious beliefs — even though Republicans were the only ones bringing up the issue at the hearing.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said the Senate "should not be moving forward on this nomination" until the election is over and the next president has taken office.

Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered her opening statement at Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearing on Monday.

Barrett is President Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court; Republicans intend to confirm her to the court before Election Day. There's little Democrats can do to prevent that, but they have plenty of objections.

Democrats are unhappy about nearly everything involving the likely confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. About the only thing that could be worse, from their perspective, is if she helps President Trump secure a second term.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee plan to frame Judge Amy Coney Barrett as a threat to the Affordable Care Act and abortion rights in their questioning of the Supreme Court Justice nominee this week.