Senate to vote to confirm Amy Coney Barrett next Monday, McConnell says

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said that the upper chamber of Congress will vote next Monday, Oct. 26, to confirm President Trump's nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, to the Supreme Court.

The Judiciary Committee is expected to vote her out of committee on Thursday at 1 p.m. ET, as it's customary for the committee to hold over the nomination of a Supreme Court nominee for a week. 

Barrett faced three days of questioning from senators on the Judiciary Committee last week.

"We will be voting to confirm Justice-to-be Barrett next Monday and I think that will be another signature accomplishment in our effort to put on the courts, the federal courts, men and women who believe in a quaint notion that the job of a judge is to actually follow the law," McConnell said during a news conference following the weekly GOP Senate lunch. 

McConnell must move to shift the Senate into executive session (versus legislative session) to specifically consider the Barrett nomination. Such a process likely requires a vote – but is not debatable (subject to a filibuster).

In 2017, McConnell established a new precedent in the Senate, known at the Capitol as “Nuclear Option II.” Although it never happened, it was possible that senators could filibuster a Supreme Court nomination. And like most things in the Senate some years ago, it took 60 yeas to curb a filibuster. But by establishing a new precedent, McConnell lowered the bar from 60 yeas to 51. 

THE SENATE'S PATH TO CONFIRMING AMY CONEY BARRETT 

Republicans have been pressed to charge ahead with Barrett's confirmation before the November election, amid Democratic outcries and threats to pack the court. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer attempted to close down the Senate until after the presidential election in protest of Barrett's confirmation on Monday. Republicans stalled his motion to adjourn. 

"This is the most rushed... most partisan, least legitimate Supreme Court nomination process in our nation's history -- in our nation's entire history -- and it should not proceed. Therefore, I will move to adjourn the Senate until after Nov. 3 election, with the ability to come back into session if there is a bipartisan agreement on a COVID relief package," Schumer said. 

GOP TURNS BACK ON SCHUMER NOTION TO SHUT DOWN SENATE

Schumer has also invoked the rarely-used "two-hour rule," which governs when committees can meet when the Senate is in session, at one point preventing the Senate Intelligence Committee from meeting in what McConnell called a "temper tantrum."

"Judge Amy Coney Barrett demonstrated that she has the deep legal expertise, dispassionate judicial temperament, and sheer intellectual horsepower that the American people deserve to have on their Supreme Court," McConnell said Monday. “I look forward to the Judiciary Committee’s vote on Thursday. The full Senate will turn to Judge Barrett’s nomination as soon as it comes out of committee. I’ll be proud to vote to confirm this exceptional jurist."

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As the Judiciary Committee is set to vote to put Barrett's nomination up before the full Senate, Schumer has threatened not to provide a quorum. Nine members of a committee, at least two from the minority party, must be present to conduct business incommittee. 

Fox News' Chad Pergram and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.