Trump Announces Barrett as Supreme Court Nominee, Describing Her as Heir to Scalia

“You’ll find there will be a wall of opposition, pretty unyielding, based on the rush to confirm a justice before the inaugural, denying the American people any voice in choosing the next justice,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, who sits on the Judiciary Committee. Mr. Blumenthal and other Democratic senators plan to refuse to meet with Judge Barrett, arguing doing so would give the process legitimacy it does not deserve.

Even Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a moderate and the only Democrat to vote for Mr. Trump’s two previous Supreme Court nominees, said he would oppose Judge Barrett if the Senate voted before Election Day, warning that rushing through her confirmation would “only fan the flames of division at a time when our country is deeply divided.”

Judge Barrett addressed those divisions in her remarks on Saturday, making a point of paying tribute to Justice Ginsburg. “She not only broke glass ceilings, she smashed them,” Judge Barrett said. “For that, she has won the admiration of women across the country, and indeed, all over the world.” She went on to recall Justice Ginsburg’s unlikely and across-the-lines friendship with Justice Scalia as an example of civility in public discourse.

Republicans sought to frame Judge Barrett as a fitting heir to Justice Ginsburg despite their stark ideological divergence, even branding her based on her three initials, “A.C.B.,” a clear echo of “R.B.G.” Representative Doug Collins of Georgia posted online an image of Judge Barrett under the title “Notorious A.C.B.,” mirroring Justice Ginsburg’s nickname, the Notorious R.G.B., although he wrote that “ACB is a BIG upgrade from RBG.”

Judge Barrett was Mr. Trump’s front-runner for the next Supreme Court vacancy even before Justice Ginsburg’s death on Sept. 18. When Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s nomination to the court was endangered in 2018 over allegations of sexual misconduct, Judge Barrett quietly became the top contender to take his place if his confirmation failed.

That summer, she underwent an initial round of vetting that included an F.B.I. background check, and lawyers working on her potential nomination did a substantive vetting of all of her legal opinions, law review articles and other writings and public remarks to get a full sense for her judicial philosophy.