The President is scheduled to make his argument at 5 pm. Of course CNN broke the story yesterday that Amy Coney Barrett is his pick, so there’s no suspense left but with Trump there is always the possibility of a surprise of some sort. Also we should get to hear from Barrett herself so we’ll see how that goes.

In the lead up to the announcement, Fox News’ Bret Baier spoke to Kayleigh McEnany about the process leading up to this. She made it clear she’s expecting Democrats to be nothing sort of vicious.

In addition to full announcement which I have embedded below, you can also watch Ed Morrissey’s live stream reaction to the announcement right here:

Trump praised Ginsburg as a “legal giant” and an inspiration to Americans. He then introduced Judge Barrett in similarly glowing terms. After reading through some of the praise she had received in the past, he asked Democrats to treat her with respect. He joked that he’d said that before (about Judge Kavanaugh).

“A very highly respected law professor at Notre Dame wrote to Justice Scalia with a one sentence recommendation, ‘Amy Coney is the best student I ever had.’ That’s pretty good,” Trump said.

When Barrett took the podium she also praised Justice Ginsburg and especially her long friendship with Justice Scalia, her own mentor. Barrett then spent a good deal of time talking about her children and family, with some special praise for her husband who she said asks her what he can do for her every single day. I know spouses are expected to say positive things about their significant others in these situations but in this case it didn’t feel forced at all. There’s some real love at the center of this family.

And that was really it. A brief introductory speech from Barrett and then her family and the First Lady came forward as Trump thanked a few more people in the crowd. Moments later the band struck up and they all exited together.

Now we need to see how the reactions trend. Already this tweet by anti-racist professor Ibram Kendi is attracting some pushback. He was responding to a tweet asking how the left would manage to call Barrett racist given that she adopted two black children from Haiti. Here’s Kendi trying to leave room to do just that, i.e. leave room to call her or people like her racist anyway.

Some White colonizers "adopted" Black children. They "civilized" these "savage" children in the "superior" ways of White people, while using them as props in their lifelong pictures of denial, while cutting the biological parents of these children out of the picture of humanity. https://t.co/XBE9rRnoqq

— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) September 26, 2020

Here’s Joe Biden’s reaction:

Today, President Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court — a jurist with a written track record of disagreeing with the Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act.

Vote like your health care is on the ballot — because it is. https://t.co/TDBQOVLP4K

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 26, 2020

And Schiff:

Here's why Republicans are rushing Amy Coney Barrett into a lifetime appointment:

So she can strike down healthcare and overturn Roe v. Wade.

Republicans also fear they’re losing the election and want her to deliver the election for Trump.

No confirmation before inauguration.

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) September 26, 2020

Schumer:

A vote for Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a vote to eliminate health care for millions in the middle of a pandemic.

Democrats are fighting for Americans' health care.https://t.co/e3pWbFWRDm

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) September 26, 2020

Here’s the full speech. You’ll need to scroll forward a bit because this was a livestream.