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Hawley says Trump's SCOTUS pick can be confirmed 'with time to spare before election'

Sen. Josh Hawley says he wants a judge that believes the abortion rights case Roe v. Wade was 'decided wrongly.'

ST. LOUIS — There is just more than a month from election day and Republicans want the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Supreme Court seat filled before then.

Going all the way back to President Ronald Regan, the average Supreme Court confirmation has taken about twice that long according to the Congressional Research Service. Before Regan the process was much quicker.

Thursday, Judge Amy Coney Barrett met one-on-one with Senators before her confirmation process in their chamber including Missouri's junior Senator Josh Hawley (R) Mo.

The Senator's office says they discussed her "judicial philosophy" and what the Senator considers recent "attacks on her (Catholic) faith."

Even before their meeting Senator Hawley had said he was impressed with Barrett's record and it's widely believed Republicans have the votes to confirm her to the high court.

So, was his meeting and the hearings to come really just a formality?

"Oh, no, it's a formality," Senator Hawley said in a remote interview with 5 On Your Side. "If there's one thing about me is that I do ask tough questions," said Hawley who has not had a Supreme Court nominee come before the Senate in his time in Washington but who has voted on President Donald Trump's nominees to lower federal courts. "I've voted no on on a number of judges nominated by this administration," said Hawley.

"...we're going to have a whole week of hearings, public hearings, and that's exactly as it should be. And then after that, we're going to have at least 30 hours of debate on the Senate floor about this nomination and all of that before we vote," said Hawley. "So, that's the normal process that the Senate always follows. And it's the right thing to do in this case. And that can all be done with time to spare before Election Day," he said of Judge Barrett's confirmation process. 

The Senator has said publicly he wants a judge that believes the abortion rights case Roe v. Wade was "wrongly decided" but says he is not asking Barrett to predict how she would rule on any given case. 

    

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