Why SCOTUS is a Hot Topic for Trump-Biden Debate

On Tuesday, former Vice President Joe Biden and United States President Donald Trump are scheduled to enter a heated debate. Topics in the discussions would include the coronavirus pandemic, the surge of nationwide protests, and the heated topic of the Supreme Court vacancy nomination.

The SCOTUS issue will most likely be another sensitive topic during the debate and comes only five weeks before the November election.

Supreme Court vacancy

According to Fox News, Biden is persistently urging the GOP-led Senate to hold off from filling the vacant Supreme Court seat after Trump nominated conservative federal appeals court judge Amy Coney Barrett. The Democrat argued they should wait until after the November elections to vote on a nominee.

On Sunday, the former vice president said that the Senate should respect the country's democracy by stepping back from the voting of a new Supreme Court Justice.

However, President Trump was aggressively pushing for the voting of Amy Coney Barrett and told Pete Hegseth, the co-host of "Fox & Friends," during an interview that he believes the nominee could be confirmed before the November election.

The Republican leader argued that there was sufficient time between October 12, which marks the beginning of the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation, and the November 3 election. Trump predicted they could do the confirmation before the election easily.

The confirmation of the Supreme Court nomination is one of six topics that the moderator, Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace, chose to be discussed during the debate.

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After Supreme Court Justice Ruth Baden Ginsburg's death nearly two weeks ago, Biden emphasized the Affordable Care Act's dwindling survival chances. The legislation is the country's health care law and is mostly known as Obamacare.

The former vice president's statements suggest that Barrett would most likely oppose the landmark law and move to eliminate it as quickly as possible once she is voted to the Supreme Court seat.

Heated topic in debate

A former debate coach at Liberty University, Brett O'Donnell, who has previously supported five Republican presidential candidates prepare for debates, expects the discussion to include a debate about how the Republicans are hypocritical for pushing to confirm a nominee with only a few weeks left before the November election.

Democrats would reference four years ago when Republicans refused to confirm President Barack Obama's nominee when there were still several months before the presidential election, as reported by AP News.

O'Donnell said Biden would be wise to start by highlighting the Senate fight but also quickly emphasize the consequences of having three Trump nominees. He said the implications would include stricter abortion and voting rights limits, relaxed gun regulations, and the Affordable Care Act's possible removal.

Top adviser to Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign, Chuck Rocha, said the Supreme Court's vacancy is a massive opportunity for Republicans, much more than for Democrats. He added some Republicans who may have been leaning towards Biden for president could support Trump because it falls parallel to their ideological values.