WASHINGTON – This evening, the Republican Majority of the United States Senate voted to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on a party-line vote, just one week before a nationwide election to determine control of the White House and Senate.

In response to this vote, Morris Pearl, the Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and a former managing director of BlackRock, Inc., issued the following statement:

“With the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, Republicans in the Senate have revealed their true colors. They are concerned with the accumulation of power at any cost, and nothing else.

They spent months ignoring the millions of American workers and businesses who desperately need aid during the covid-19 pandemic, only to burst into a frenzy of activity when they could use an empty SCOTUS seat to solidify their minority rule. Now, after packing the court with yet another right-wing idealogue in the midst of the most divisive and consequential election in American history, with tens of millions of votes already cast, they are going to slink away to their home states for the rest of the year, leaving the American people to fend for themselves.

Their decision to fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat in the midst of an ongoing election is illegitimate, un-democratic, and anti-American. Their decision to prioritize filling this SCOTUS seat while hundreds of Americans are dying every day of covid-19 is unforgivable. This illegitimate process has subverted our democracy, diminished the American people’s faith in their government, and undermined the legitimacy of the Supreme Court for years to come.”