WATCH: U.S. Senate day 1 of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett

(Editor's note: You can watch an archived version from ABC News of the entire Day 1 of hearings in the video player above.)

LIVE BLOG: Latest details on the confirmation hearings at a glance

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett told senators that courts “should not try” to make policy, leaving those decisions to the political branches of government, in the opening remarks on day one of her confirmation hearing.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, which began Monday as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the country, are taking place three weeks before Election Day and after millions of Americans already have voted. President Donald Trump nominated the federal appeals court judge soon after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died.

“I have been nominated to fill Justice Ginsburg’s seat, but no one will ever take her place,” Barrett told the committee.

Barrett said she has resolved to maintain the same perspective as her mentor, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who was “devoted to his family, resolute in his beliefs, and fearless of criticism.”

She spoke extensively of her family in the opening statement, and said she will never let the law define her identity or crowd out the rest of her life. She saaid a similar principle applies to the courts, which are “not designed to solve every problem or right every wrong in our public life.”

“The policy decisions and value judgments of government must be made by the political branches elected by and accountable to the People,” she said. “The public should not expect courts to do so, and courts should not try.”

Barrett told the senators that “courts are not designed to solve every problem or right every wrong in our public life.”

Republicans who control the Senate are moving at a breakneck pace to put the 48-year-old judge on the Supreme Court before the Nov. 3 election, in time to hear a high-profile challenge to the Affordable Care Act and any election-related challenges that may follow the voting.

Another reason for moving quickly: It’s unclear whether the election results would make it harder to confirm Barrett before the end of the year if Democrat Joe Biden were to win the White House and Democrats were to gain seats in the Senate.

The hearing is taking place less than a month after the death of Ginsburg gave Trump the chance to replace the liberal justice and entrench a conservative majority on the nine-member court. Barrett would be Trump’s third Supreme Court justice.

The country is getting an extended look at Barrett over three days, that began with her opening statement on Monday and hours of expected questioning set for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham told lawmakers at the conclusion of an approximately five-hour hearing Monday to get some rest because there are long days ahead.

On Monday, in addition to hearing from Barrett, Democratic and Republican members of the committee gave opening statements. She will begin answering questions from lawmakers Tuesday.

Democrats had pressed in vain to delay the hearings because of the proximity to the election and the virus threat. No Supreme Court justice has ever been confirmed so close to a presidential election.