Presidential candidate Joe Biden and fellow Democrats say their opposition to Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett will focus on the fact she could cast a decisive vote to strike down the Obamacare health law.
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With Republicans controlling the Senate, Democrats have little leverage to prevent a quick vote on Barrett before the November 3 US presidential election and almost no hope of preventing her confirmation.
Instead, their attacks appeared aimed at energising their political base with an issue already a talking point for Biden, who gave a speech on the subject in Wilmington, Delaware.
Barrett could be on the court's bench for oral arguments on November 10 in a case in which President Donald Trump and Republicans are seeking to invalidate the Affordable Care Act - the 2010 law popularly known Obamacare.
That could cost millions of Americans their healthcare coverage along with protections for pre-existing health conditions.
"It's no mystery what is happening here. President Trump is trying to throw out the Affordable Care Act. He has been trying to do this for four years," Biden said on Sunday.
In a White House Rose Garden ceremony on Saturday, Trump announced Barrett, 48, as his selection to succeed liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on September 18 aged 87.
Barrett said she would be a justice in the mold of her mentor, the late staunch conservative Antonin Scalia, who twice voted in favor of previous unsuccessful Obamacare challenges.
Barrett's confirmation would result in a 6-3 conservative majority on the court some conservatives hope could result in curbing abortion rights.
In remarks at the White House on Sunday, Trump charged that Barrett's critics were playing the "religious card" against her, an implicit suggestion they were biased against the judge, who is a devout Catholic.
Biden, however, concentrated on the ACA in his remarks in Wilmington, tying the fate of the law to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, in which more than 200,000 Americans have died.
"The clear focus is: This is about your healthcare. This is about whether or not the ACA will exist. This is about whether or not pre-existing conditions will continue to be covered," he said.
"This is about whether or not a woman can be charged more for the same procedure as a man. This is about people's healthcare in the middle of a pandemic."
Biden repeated his call that the winner of the presidential election should get to appoint the new justice.
Trump said on Twitter on Sunday that if the Supreme Court strikes down the health law, "Obamacare will be replaced with a MUCH better, and FAR cheaper, alternative".
Trump failed to repeal Obamacare when Republicans controlled the Senate and House of Representatives. Neither Trump nor Republicans have detailed how they might replace the law.
Democratic senators on Sunday echoed Biden's message, saying it would be a focus of questions Barrett will face during a multi-day confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee starting on October 12.
The hearing could offer a showcase to Biden's running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, who is a member of the committee.
Australian Associated Press
