Georgia Republicans express support for Supreme Court pick Barrett

ATLANTA - In a press call arranged by the Trump campaign Monday morning, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and State Rep. Barry Fleming, R-Harlem, expressed their support for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee.

Over the weekend, President Trump announced he had chosen Judge Amy Coney Barrett.

"Judge Barrett is going to be an outstanding justice," said Carr. "She will be because she is a textualist and an originalist, which means she will apply the law as written. She will enforce the text and structure and original understanding of the Constitution and she understands that the role of a judge is to faithfully interpret the law, not legislate from the bench."

Democrats have been critical of the president's push to confirm Judge Barrett before the November election, but Rep. Fleming said the president and the Senate have an obligation to act quickly.

"There is time to fill the seat, as previous Supreme Court justices have been confirmed in less than the 45 days that we have this year," Rep. Fleming explained.

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President Trump's choice of Barrett is expected to be one of the hot topics at Tuesday's presidential debate.

Ed Lee, the Senior Director of Emory University's Alben W. Barkley Forum for Debate, Deliberation, and Dialogue, said that will also likely mean heated debate over abortion.

"The problem for President Trump, I believe, is that abortion just sucks all of the oxygen out of the room," said Lee. "It becomes difficult to talk about or even entertain much else when it gets introduced to a conversation. The cultural wars did not provide a winning argument for Trump in 2016 and the latest iterations will not radically change the trajectory of the campaign in 2020."

Instead, Lee said, Trump will do better in the debate if the conversation focuses more heavily on trade and the economy.

Confirmation hearings for Judge Barrett are scheduled to begin October 12.

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