Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearing: Day 2

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis announced today during Amy Cohen Barrett's confirmation hearing that he's participating in two studies after testing positive for coronavirus.

Tillis, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also submitted a letter from his doctor that he said indicates he been "fully complied with CDC guidelines."

The North Carolina senator told committee members that during his time in quarantine, he enrolled in the studies and will be donating blood to enroll at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"Because this is being aired, I hope anyone who has recovered from Covid will do their part to try heal this country from the health challenges that Covid has presented us," Tillis said. "I intend to do my part."

About Tillis' Covid-19 diagnosis: He tested positive for coronavirus just days after attending a White House event where President Trump nominated Barrett to the Supreme Court.

Watch the moment:

The Senate Judiciary committee is back in session, and senators will continue to question President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, at her confirmation hearing.

Committee Chair Lindsey Graham said they plan to take a 30-minute dinner break around 6:30 p.m. ET.  

There will be a second day of questioning tomorrow.

Picking up where he left off yesterday, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley once again criticized his colleagues for highlighting Amy Coney Barrett’s faith, even though Republicans have spoken about her faith more than Democrats. 

Today, Hawley pointed to the Constitution’s so called “religious test clause” that specifies that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office of public trust under the United States.”

“I’m not aware of any law or provision of the Constitution that says that if you are a member of the Catholic church and adhere to the teachings of the Catholic church, or you have religious convictions in line with your church teaching that you are therefore barred from office,” he said. “Are you aware of that in the Constitution to that effect?"

“I would think the test clause would make it unconstitutional,” Barrett responded. 

The hearing will resume at 3:54 p.m. ET, with Sen. Richard Blumenthal beginning his round of questions.

The hearing will then take a dinner break around 6:30 p.m. ET. Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris will likely begin her round of questions closer to approximately 7:30 p.m. ET.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett appeared annoyed when pushed by Democratic Sen. Chris Coons about why she criticized Chief Justice John Roberts' opinion on the Affordable Care Act.

She reiterated she has not made any commitments on how she would rule in any particular case, adding that she is “not here on a mission to destroy the Affordable Care Act. I’m just here to apply the law and adhere to the rule of law.”

Here's the exchange between the two: 

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Asked by Democratic Sen. Chris Coons if she would recuse herself from any case arising from disputes surrounding election results, Judge Amy Coney Barrett again declined to make any commitments, and instead pointed to her record on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"I want to be very clear for the record and to all members of this committee, that no matter what anyone else may think or expect, I have not committed to anyone or so much as signaled — I've never even written — I've been in a couple of opinions in the 7th Circuit that have been around the edges of election law, but I haven't even written anything that I would think anybody could reasonably say, 'oh, this is how she might resolve an election dispute,'" Barrett said. 

The judge said she would commit, however, to "consider all factors that are relevant" to the question that would require a recusal when "there is an appearance of bias."

"I promise you that if I were confirmed and if an election dispute arises, both of which are ifs, that I would very seriously undertake that process and I would consider every relevant factor. I can't commit to you right now for the reasons that we've talked about before, but I do assure you of my integrity and I do assure you that I would take that question very seriously," Barrett said.

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett said that she does not consider Roe v. Wade as a super precedent case, when pressed by Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

Klobuchar began her line of questioning by asking Barrett about Brown v. Board of Education and whether she believed that it was considered precedent and therefore shouldn't be overruled.

Barrett responded by stating: "Well it is precedent... It's super precedent. People consider it to be on that very small list of things that are so widely established and agreed upon by everyone, calls for its overruling don't exist."

Klobuchar followed by asking if Barrett if she thought Roe v. Wade was a super precedent.

Klobuchar then pressed Barrett about why she was willing to call Brown v. Board of Education a super precedent, even though the Supreme Court has not classified it as such, but will not say the same about Roe v. Wade, despite the Supreme Court's ruling opinion describing it as a super precedent in the Planned Parenthood v. Casey case.

Barrett responded, "Well, senator I can just give you the same answer that I just did."

This is how the moment played out:

Sen. Amy Klobuchar brought up efforts by President Trump to get his supporters to the polls to observe voting activity and asked Judge Amy Coney Barrett if under federal law it is illegal to intimidate voters at the polls.

Barrett declined to respond directly to the question, saying: "I can't characterize the facts in a hypothetical situation, and I can't apply the law to a hypothetical set of facts." 

Barrett also did not directly answer Klobuchar's question about whether voters would feel intimidated by the presence of "armed civilian groups at the polls."

"Senator Klobuchar, you know, that is eliciting — I'm not sure whether to say it is eliciting a legal opinion from me, because the reasonable person standard, as you know, is one common in the law, or just an opinion as a citizen. But, it’s not something, really, that’s appropriate for me to comment on," Barrett said.

Watch the moment unfold:

Sen. Amy Klobuchar began her questioning of Judge Amy Coney Barrett by asking if we should take President Trump at his word when he said his Supreme Court nominee will "do the right thing" and overturn the Affordable Care Act.

Barrett responded by saying, "I can't really speak to what the President has said on Twitter." 

She reiterated a point she made earlier in the hearing that Trump and her have not discussed overturning the ACA, adding, "that no one has elicited from me any commitment in a case, even brought up a commitment in the case." 

Barrett continued: "I'm 100% committed to judicial independence from political pressure" adding that she is not "pre-committed" to deciding any case.

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