The nomination of Amy Coney Barrett

If he doesn't, he and his conservative allies on the court can count on being joined next year by a whole batch of new colleagues.

The president’s first-term judicial legacy, primarily engineered by Sen. Mitch McConnell and his singular focus on the courts, culminates Monday with the expected confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

A group of Democratic senators had urged Pence to stay away from the Senate.

In adding a sixth decidedly conservative justice, the court is slipping further out of sync with the national consensus.

Let ballots be cast and counted, at least this year, according to the status quo, without five or more justices attempting to impose a new national standard at the last minute.

Republicans were the only senators who used the phrase “court-packing” in recent weeks, as Democrats sought to focus on the real-world impact of a conservative Supreme Court.

If the court wants to strike down liberal laws, Democrats can make doing so painful.

The norms against changing the size of courts for partisan reasons are selectively upheld.

The Senate is poised to vote on confirmation of the conservative jurist Monday night, and she could be sworn in as early as Tuesday for her first full day on the court.

The Senate does not have to consider her nomination on Monday.

There’s a high cost to confirming Amy Coney Barrett.

The Alaska Republican, who had said the Senate should not vote on a new justice so close to the election, said she wouldn’t hold her opposition to the process against Barrett.

The nominee refused to say at confirmation hearing whether the landmark same-sex marriage case was properly decided. But a pending case could make views more transparent.

The acrimony reflected pent-up anger in the judicial battles as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took steps to finalize the conservative jurist’s installation by Monday evening.

The committee's approval clears the way for the Senate confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett on Monday.