Summary
Here’s a rundown of Saturday’s events. We’ll be back tomorrow for all Sunday’s news.
- Trump promises to move ‘without delay’ on Ginsburg successor. Donald Trump has once again reiterated his desire to select a new supreme court justice while the Republicans have power over the presidency and US senate. Later Saturday, he said he expects to announce his nominee “next week” and it will “most likely” be a woman.
- New York will honor Ruth Bader Ginsburg with statue in Brooklyn. The supreme court justice will be honored with a statue in Brooklyn, the New York City borough where she was born and grew up.
- Envelope containing ricin was sent to White House, report says. An envelope containing the poison ricin was sent to the executive mansion, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
- Two dead after mass shooting at party in Rochester. Gunfire at a backyard party killed two people and wounded 14 early on Saturday in the upstate New York city, which has been roiled by outrage over the police killing of Daniel Prude.
- Minneapolis to rename part of street where George Floyd was killed after him. The city will refer to the blocks of Chicago Avenue between 37th and 39th streets as George Perry Floyd Jr Place, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
- US runs out of Atlantic hurricane names as frenetic season continues. So many powerful storms have formed over the Atlantic this year that for only the second time, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has run out of names, meaning it is now naming tropical storms and hurricanes with letters from the Greek alphabet.
Trump also told reporters he has approved a deal in principle that will allow the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok to operate in the US after previous threats to ban it due to national security concerns.
“I have given the deal my blessing,” the US president said. “If they get it done that’s great, if they don’t that’s fine too.”
Under the proposed deal, TikTok will partner with US business software firm Oracle to form a new Texas-based company known as TikTok Global, which has reportedly agreed to make a $5bn donation to an educational fund in the state.
“They’re going to be setting up a very large fund,” he said. “That’s their contribution that I’ve been asking for.”
Trump says nominee to replace RBG will ‘most likely’ be a woman
Donald Trump said he expects to announce his nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg “next week” and it will “most likely” be a woman.
The president revealed his plans during a 12-minute scrum with reporters outside the White House as he prepared to depart for a rally tonight in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
“We want to respect the process,” Trump said. “I think it’s going to go very quickly, actually.”
Asked to comment on Republican senator Susan Collins’ statement earlier Saturday that Ginsburg’s seat on the high court should be filled by the winner of November’s election “in fairness to the American people”, Trump was to the point.
“I totally disagree with her,” he said. “We won.”
Trump’s suggestion that he will choose a woman to replace Ginsburg only fuels speculation that he is eying 48-year-old Amy Coney Barrett for the lifetime appointment.
Barrett worries progressives as a committed Roman Catholic with conservative views on social issues. At Barrett’s circuit court confirmation hearings, the Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein expressed concern that the judge would be guided by church law instead of the constitution.
“The dogma lives loudly within you and that’s a concern,” Feinstein said, “when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for for years in this country.”
Updated
Collins: Senate should wait to confirm 'in fairness to the American people'
Maine senator Susan Collins has broken her silence on whether Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the supreme court should be filled until after the inauguration of the next president.
Collins, a moderate who faces an uphill climb in her re-election campaign against Democratic challenger Sara Gideon, said the decision should be made by the president who is chosen in the November election.
“In order for the American people to have faith in their elected officials, we must act fairly and consistently – no matter which political party is in power,” Collins said in a statement Saturday. “President Trump has the constitutional authority to make a nomination to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, and I would have no objection to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s beginning the process of reviewing his nominee’s credentials.
“Given the proximity of the presidential election, however, I do not believe that the Senate should vote on the nominee prior to the election.”
My statement on the Supreme Court vacancy: pic.twitter.com/jvYyDN5gG4
— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) September 19, 2020
Collins is the second Republican senator to go on record against holding a confirmation vote before election day after Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, who said in July she “would not support” filling a vacancy before 2021, fearing it would create a “double standard” after the stonewalling of Merrick Garland in 2016.
The GOP, which controls 53 seats in the US senate, needs only a simple majority to confirm a supreme court nominee, meaning it could only weather one more defection in addition to Collins and Murkowski presuming all 47 Democrats vote to oppose.
Updated
A national survey conducted shortly before Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on Friday found substantial majorities of both parties favor hearings on any supreme court nominee in the event of a vacancy this year.
The Marquette University Law School poll, which was conducted between 8 to 15 September and released on Saturday, found that 67% of respondents believed confirmation should proceed in 2020 while just 32% said the US senate should hold off.
The survey did not suggest strong political divisions on the issue, with 68% of Republicans and 63% of Democrats holding that a nomination vote should take place. Independents supported going forward by a 71% margin.
The study mirrors a similar survey in 2016 that found a majority wanted to see the Senate take up the nomination of judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s nominee to replace conservative justice Antonin Scalia, who died in May 2016.
In that case, Republicans argued it would be improper to hold a confirmation vote in an election year. Statements by Republican leaders overnight suggest that with a Republican court nomination in play, they are coming to the opposite conclusion.
Still, 48% of respondents from political factions indicated that any appointment to the court is very important to them, 34% said it is somewhat important, while 17% responded that it is not too important or not at all important to them.
Broken down by likely voters for each presidential candidate, 59% of Joe Biden supporters said that the next court appointment is very important, against 51% of likely Trump voters. The full results of the poll will be released on 23 September.
An envelope addressed to Donald Trump containing a substance that federal investigators identified as the lethal poison ricin was intercepted this week before arriving at the White House, the Associated Press has reported citing a law enforcement official.
The source, who not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the letter was discovered at a government facility where all mail addressed to the president is screened and sorted before it’s forwarded to the executive mansion. A preliminary investigation indicated it tested positive for ricin, a poison found naturally in castor beans, the official said.
The AP reports:
Federal investigators were working to determine where the enveloped originated and who mailed it. The FBI, the Secret Service and the US Postal Inspection Service were leading the investigation.
In a statement, the FBI said agents were working to investigate a suspicious letter received at a US government mail facility and that there is no known threat to public safety.
A Navy veteran was arrested in 2018 and confessed to sending envelopes to Trump and members of his administration that contained the substance from which ricin is derived.
Authorities said the man, William Clyde Allen III, sent the envelopes with ground castor beans to the president, FBI Director Christopher Wray, along with then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, then-CIA Director Gina Haspel, Adm. John Richardson, who at the time was the Navy’s top officer, and then-Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson. The letters were intercepted, and no one was hurt.
The New York Times, citing a law enforcement official briefed on the inquiry, has reported that investigators believe the letter was sent from Canada.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and a regular contributor in these pages, has remembered Ruth Bader Ginsburg as “the best of us” and a champion of “equal opportunity and fair justice”.
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg was one of the fiercest, most intelligent defenders of equal opportunity and fair justice for all,” Abdul-Jabbar said on Saturday in a statement to the Guardian. “She was the best of us and her example brought out the best in everyone who believes in a truly democratic America.”
— Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (@kaj33) September 19, 2020
Updated
Feinstein calls on Graham to not fill RBG's seat before inauguration
California senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, has formally called on the committee’s chairman Lindsey Graham to delay action on filling Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the supreme court until after the inauguration of the next president.
A letter co-signed by all 10 judiciary committee Democrats dated Saturday invokes Graham’s own words following the death of conservative supreme court justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, which don’t leave the South Carolina senator much in the way of wiggle room.
You joined other Senate Republicans in arguing against the Senate’s consideration of any nominee.
For instance, in March 2016, you said that the “election cycle [was] well under way and the precedent of the Senate is not to confirm a nominee at this stage in the process.” That same month you also said “If there is a Republican President in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say ‘Lindsey Graham said let us let the next President, whoever it might be, make that nomination.’ And you could use my words against me, and you would be absolutely right.”
Two years later, you reiterated that the standard Republicans established in 2016 should apply equally in 2020. As you noted, “[i]f an opening comes in the last year of President Trump’s term, and the primary process has started, we’ll wait until the next election.”
There cannot be one set of rules for a Republican President and one set for a Democratic President, and considering a nominee before the next inauguration would be wholly inappropriate.
While he has yet to comment on the letter directly, Graham clarified his position on the matter in a thread of tweets on Saturday afternoon, saying:
The two biggest changes regarding the Senate and judicial confirmations that have occurred in the last decade have come from Democrats.
* Harry Reid changed the rules to allow a simple majority vote for Circuit Court nominees dealing out the minority.
* Chuck Schumer and his friends in the liberal media conspired to destroy the life of Brett Kavanaugh and hold that Supreme Court seat open.
In light of these two events, I will support President @realDonaldTrump in any effort to move forward regarding the recent vacancy created by the passing of Justice Ginsburg.
Earlier Saturday, Graham responded to Donald Trump’s tweet calling for Republicans to move forward on a nominee “without delay”, saying, “I fully understand where [President Trump] is coming from.”
Democrats have raised more than $31m in the 17 hours since supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death was announced, according to a donation ticker on ActBlue, the party’s online fundraising platform.
Democrats have already registered record fundraising totals over the closing months of the 2020 presidential election season: more than 4m unique donors made 10,654,586 contributions on ActBlue in August, for a total of $485,400,545.
The party is now looking to leverage Ginsberg’s legacy in more than judicial terms. A separate Senate-focused democratic push specifically mentions Ginsburg’s impact.
“In this moment it is vital to give to Senate candidates,” reads an ActBlue fundraising page entitled Protect RBG’s Legacy. “Time to apply maximum pressure so that they do the right thing & refuse to vote to confirm before the 2020 election.”
Republicans, too, acted overnight. In Iowa, vulnerable Republican senator Joni Ernst sent out fundraising pleas shortly after Ginsburg’s death was announced.“BREAKING: The future of the Supreme Court is on the line,” Ernst’s campaign wrote in the subject line of an email blast.
“Our Conservative values and Constitutional rights are now on the line,” the email said. “The next Supreme Court nominee will shape major decisions for decades to come.”
After an online backlash, Ernst later issued an apology. “This email never should have gone out,” she said in a statement. “Though I never saw it, it was sent out under my name and I take responsibility for it. Tonight, my prayers are with the family of Justice Ginsburg.”
Lawrence Douglas explains how Democrats could have the last laugh if Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell succeeds in installing a nominee to the high court before the election, or before Trump leaves the White House, should he lose to Joe Biden:
[T]he deeper question is not whether McConnell will be successful. It is how Democrats should respond if he is. The answer, of course, will turn on the results of the coming election. But should Democrats capture the White House and the Senate, they need to bear in mind that it is Congress and not the Constitution that sets the size of the supreme court. In 1937, Franklin Roosevelt, frustrated by a hidebound supreme court that had struck down New Deal laws, proposed expanding the number of justices to fifteen. That court-packing plan was rightly rejected by Congress as a heavy-handed attempt to manipulate the court’s composition to generate specific political outcomes.
A new Democratic court-packing plan in 2021 would be prompted by a very different logic. Adding two additional justices to court’s ranks would simply counterbalance the abuse of constitutional rules that enabled the confirmation of Gorsuch and RBG’s replacement. Such an act would be a justified gesture of constitutional restoration, not usurpation.
Politico reporter – Trump might not fill RBG's seat immediately
Tim Alberta, the chap I quoted a while back re Mitch “Mule Piss” McConnell and his single-minded pursuit of judicial appointments, has a fascinating piece up at Politico.
“If there’s one Republican who could be convinced that filling the sudden supreme court vacancy is a bad idea,” he writes, “it’s President Donald Trump.”
The gist of it is that Trump might see the promise of a conservative justice as a more potent weapon in his arsenal against Joe Biden than the actuality of a conservative installed in whatever short and nasty Capitol Hill fight McConnell has lined up and into which Democrats will no doubt determinedly pitch.
In short, as Alberta writes, Trump’s decision to publish a list of possible nominees did wonders in 2016 in reassuring evangelicals and others he would not appoint any liberals, thereby aligning such voters behind a candidate they otherwise distrusted.
So, the thinking goes, why not do so again? Trump has already published a list of possible nominees and we all know he likes to manage political theatre like reality TV. “Vote for me or Joe Biden will appoint an anti-gun, pro-abortion, atheist Black Lives Matter activist in a same-sex marriage from Vermont,” is the short and flippant version of it. Shorter still but still flippant: “Vote for me or the court gets it.”
Here’s Alberta:
Any number of variables could tip the scales in such a tight election. But it’s not difficult to deduce that had a supreme court seat not been hanging in the balance, Hillary Clinton would be president right now. When I offered this theory last year to McConnell … he grinned.
“I agree,” McConnell said.
And here he is again:
Having been reminded countless times over the past 45 months that his Supreme Court gambit won him the trust of social conservatives – which, in turn, won him the election – Trump surely realizes that this is a moment of maximum leverage. Maybe he doesn’t bother using it; maybe he automatically produces more of the goods, keeping his most important customers satisfied, believing it’s one more accomplishment to point to.
But the president is transactional to his core. This was exactly the word– “transactional” – that Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, used when we discussed the supreme court list Trump unveiled in 2016.
“Evangelicals had been used over and over by Republicans. And there was something different about his interaction with us,” Perkins told me. “He wanted our votes, and he made promises that most Christian candidates would never, ever make.”
News is starting to come out of the Senate Democrats’ caucus call today…
Per source Schumer started with moment of silence for RBG and said “nothing is off the table” next year if GOP moves forward w/nominating process
— Alana Abramson (@aabramson) September 19, 2020
Nothing is off the table, huh?
Fellow supreme court justices salute 'an American hero'
Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s fellow supreme court justices have paid tribute to their colleague in a series of statements.
“Through the many challenges both professionally and personally, she was the essence of grace, civility and dignity,” wrote Clarence Thomas. “She was a superb judge who gave her best and exacted the best from each of us, whether in agreement or disagreement. And, as outstanding as she was as a judge, she was an even better colleague – unfailingly gracious, thoughtful, and civil.”
Sonia Sotomayor saluted “an American hero”:
I will miss Ruth greatly. She welcomed me to the Court with a warmth I could not have expected, and I came to feel a special kinship with her. She was someone whose wisdom, kindness, and unwavering support I could always rely on. I will forever cherish the moments we shared.”
Neil Gorusch gave personal memories of Ginsburg:
“We are blessed by the happy memories that will remain, like traveling with Ruth to London where (to her delight) an uninformed guide kept calling her ‘Ruthie,’ or all the opera she tried so valiantly to teach me, or her sweet tooth at lunch, or the touching stories of her remarkable life with Marty,” he wrote. “We will miss Ruth and our hearts go out to her family. May she rest in peace.”
In 2016, Republican senator Lindsey Graham said the following: “I want you to use my words against me. If there’s a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let’s let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination”.
It should be no surprise to anyone with a passing familiarity with Graham’s history of going back on his word when it suits him, that he has now reversed course (although he says he did so long before Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death). Graham pointed to an article from The Hill earlier this year in which he talked about the case of Merrick Garland, Obama’s pick for the supreme court who the Republicans refused to confirm in the final year of Obama’s presidency.
“Well, Merrick Garland was a different situation. You had the president of one party nominating, and you had the Senate in the hands of the other party. A situation where you’ve got them both would be different. I don’t want to speculate, but I think appointing judges is a high priority for me in 2020,” Graham said in the article.
Reports that Donald Trump would select a woman to succeed Ruth Bader Ginsburg are gaining momentum, with Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs saying the choices would include Barbara Lagoa and Amy Coney Barrett. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said earlier today that she was not aware of Trump and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell discussing a replacement.
NEW: Frontrunners for Trump’s US Supreme court pick include Barbara Lagoa and Amy Coney Barrett, sources tell me and @josh_wingrove. He’s not decided yet. In a conversation with Trump last night, McConnell didn’t specify a candidate preference, said he can deliver a floor vote.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) September 19, 2020
One other (male) possibility being discussed is Amul Thapar, who would become the first Indian-American to serve on the supreme court if selected and confirmed.
Trump thanks Reid for 'nuclear option' move
Trump has attempted some sort of statesmanlike tone this morning, promising to serve “the people who so proudly elected us” by announcing his nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg “without delay” – never mind that nearly 3m more people voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, and almost 18m more people voted for Democrats in the Senate than for the Republicans who hold it.
But the troll in the Oval Office – or the White House residence or maybe the private dining room off the Oval Office, the “Monica Room” (see Rage, Woodward, Bob, 2020) where he watches TV and eats junk food – is also active this morning:
Thank you Harry! https://t.co/vu7aASOYrX
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2020
Short recap: in 2013, then Democratic Senate majority leader Harry Reid went for the “nuclear option”, removing the 60-vote threshold for judicial appointments, because he was frustrated by Republican obstruction of nominees from the Obama White House.
The move made such appointments subject to a simple majority and after Republicans took the Senate in 2016, they extended it to supreme court picks.
Two Trump justices later and with an absolutely seismic third in the offing, some are taking the chance to revel in what was undoubtedly an immense tactical victory for Reid’s opposite number and successor as majority leader, Mitch “Mule Piss” McConnell.
Reid is not well, but from retirement in Nevada he issued a statement which pointed to the possible costs to Republicans, politically, and the country, socially, should Trump and McConnell succeed in installing a nominee before the election, or before Trump leaves the White House, should he lose to Joe Biden:
My statement on the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: pic.twitter.com/dL8Ulupygz
— Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) September 19, 2020
Felicity Jones, the British actor, who played Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the 2018 film On The Basis Of Sex, has paid tribute to the supreme court justice.
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg gave us hope, a public figure who stood for integrity and justice – a responsibility she did not wear lightly,” Jones said in a statement to NBC’s Today show. “She will be missed not only as a beacon of light in these difficult times but for her razor sharp wit and extraordinary humanity. She taught us all so much. I will miss her deeply.”
Jones met Ginsburg for the making of the film and described her as “very open”. You can read the Guardian’s review of the film below:
One fear for Democrats is that wavering Republican voters will rally to the GOP in November’s elections to ensure a conservative replaces Ruth Bader Ginsburg, even if they view Donald Trump with distaste.
It appears that Republicans in close Senate races are already using the supreme court’s future in an attempt to win votes. North Carolina Republican senator Thom Tillis said on Saturday that he wanted a new justice in as soon as possible.
“Four years ago, a Supreme Court vacancy arose under divided government and a lame-duck president as Americans were choosing his successor. Today, however, President Trump is again facing voters at the ballot box and North Carolinians will ultimately render their judgment on his presidency and how he chooses to fill the vacancy,” he said in a statement.
Tillis is trailing his Democrat opponent, Cal Cunningham, in the polls for the Senate seat and played on conservative voters’ fears in his statement. “There is a clear choice on the future of the Supreme Court between the well-qualified and conservative jurist President Trump will nominate and I will support, and the liberal activist Joe Biden will nominate and Cal Cunningham will support, who will legislate radical, left-wing policies from the bench,” he said.
Vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris visited the supreme court this morning as Americans paid tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Harris have her own thoughts of Ginsburg on Twitter:
Justice Ginsburg was a titan—a relentless defender of justice and a legal mind for the ages.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) September 19, 2020
The stakes of this election couldn’t be higher. Millions of Americans are counting on us to win and protect the Supreme Court—for their health, for their families, and for their rights. pic.twitter.com/RjlQ6ZwPET
“Justice Ginsburg was a titan—a relentless defender of justice and a legal mind for the ages,” Harris wrote. “The stakes of this election couldn’t be higher. Millions of Americans are counting on us to win and protect the Supreme Court—for their health, for their families, and for their rights.”
Meanwhile, writing in The Hill, Roger House gives an interesting choice for a successor to Ginsburg should Joe Biden get to have his say: Michelle Obama.
“In Michelle Obama, concerned Americans would be comforted by her well-known intellectual acumen and dedication to the goals of equal justice with fairness. She is singularly qualified to occupy the seat that inherits the ideals of Justice Ginsburg,” writes House.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born and raised in Brooklyn, and New York governor Andrew Cuomo has announced a statue of the supreme court justice will be erected in the borough.
“NY’s heart breaks with the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” wrote Cuomo on Twitter. “During her extraordinary career, this Brooklyn native broke barriers & the letters RBG took on new meaning—as battle cry & inspiration. Her legal mind & dedication to justice leave an indelible mark on America.”
#BREAKING: New York will honor the life and legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a statue in Brooklyn, her birthplace.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) September 19, 2020
This statue will serve as a physical reminder of Justice Ginsburg's monumental contributions to the America we know today and as an inspiration for all. pic.twitter.com/iwvo7c3JOw
He added: “This statue will serve as a physical reminder of Justice Ginsburg’s monumental contributions to the America we know today and as an inspiration for all.”
You can read more on Ginsburg’s extraordinary life in our obituary here:
One video doing the rounds today is of Republican senator Lindsey Graham’s comments from 2016 on the nomination of a new justice.
After the death of conservative supreme court justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, Graham said a replacement should not be decided until Barack Obama was out of power - something that came to pass. The Republican justification at the time was that a new president should decide the new justice.
Done. https://t.co/EIwiJEyh58
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) September 19, 2020
“I want you to use my words against me. If there’s a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let’s let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination,” said at the time.
The video has been retweeted regularly since the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg was announced, including by Hawaii senator Brian Schatz who added the word: “DONE”.
Given that Graham is perfectly happy to go back on his word when it suits him, don’t expect the videos to make much difference.
The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has sparked a titanic political fight that could shape the future of US supreme court decisions on abortion rights, voting rights and other fundamental issues for a generation.
That fight could also determine the contours of American society for the next 30 to 40 years, given the central role the court plays in legislating on cultural, social and political issues.
The Senate confirmation battle to come will be a reminder of the influence the court wields within the US system of government and the impact it has on the lives of ordinary citizens.
Donald Trump has already appointed two supreme court justices – but both were conservatives replacing conservatives. If the president succeeds with a Ginsburg replacement it will fundamentally change the shape of the court, since it would replace a liberal with a conservative. This would deliver a handsome majority on the court and probably change American life in unprecedented ways.
The ability of the court to interpret legislation from abortion to voting rights and from racial segregation to LGBTQ+ issues means that a successful appointment would probably be Trump’s lasting legacy. Supreme court justices serve open-ended terms, impacting the country decades after any president leaves the White House.
You can read the full story below:
Trump promises to move 'without delay'
Donald Trump has once again reiterated his desire to select a new supreme court justice while the Republicans have power over the presidency and Senate.
.@GOP We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices. We have this obligation, without delay!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2020
“We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices. We have this obligation, without delay!” the president tweeted on Saturday morning.
For more on why Trump is so keen to get a new justice in place, here’s a very useful explainer from our own Tom McCarthy:
Updated
Amy Coney Barrett tipped as potential replacement for Bader Ginsburg
Various sources have reported that Donald Trump wants a woman to succeed Ruth Bader Ginsburg. If those reports are true, the most likely candidate would be the 48-year-old Amy Coney Barrett, who could potentially sit on the Supreme Court for decades. Here’s how our national affairs correspondent, Tom McCarthy, describes her:
Barrett worries progressives as a committed Roman Catholic with conservative views on social issues. At Barrett’s circuit court confirmation hearings, the Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein expressed concern that the judge would be guided by church law instead of the constitution.
“The dogma lives loudly within you and that’s a concern,” Feinstein said, “when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for for years in this country.”
Barrett was previously a professor at the Notre Dame Law School, and was part of a pro-life group at the university. In 2015, she co-signed a letter to Catholic bishops that, among other things, promoted “the significance of sexual difference and the complementarity of men and women; on openness to life and the gift of motherhood; and on marriage and family founded on the indissoluble commitment of a man and a woman.”
Updated
Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has paid tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a statement in which she calls her “a justice of courage”.
“With an incomparable and indelible legacy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg will forever be known as a woman of brilliance, a justice of courage, and a human of deep conviction,” wrote the duchess in a statement. “She has been a true inspiration to me since I was a girl. Honour her, remember her, act for her.”
The November elections take place in 46 days. For those wondering if that’s too short a time For Donald Trump and the Republican-held Senate to usher in Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s successor the answer is: it is not. Bader Ginsburg herself was confirmed in just 42 days. CNN has produced a list of how long it took to replace the current Supreme Court justices:
Brett Kavanaugh (88 days), Neil Gorsuch (65 days), Elena Kagan (87 days), Sonia Sotomayor (66 days), Samuel Alito (82 days), John Roberts (62 days), Clarence Thomas (99 days)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death adds even more weight to November’s elections, with both Democrats and Republicans saying that voters will not only decide the presidency but the long-term future of the supreme court (assuming her replacement isn’t confirmed by then). Vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris sent out a fundraising email to supporters this morning saying what she believes is on the line:
Mitch McConnell wasted no time declaring he would bring Trump’s appointee to a vote on the Senate floor, where he holds a Republican majority. And there is no doubt in my mind that Donald Trump will nominate someone who will overturn the Affordable Care Act, strip protections from immigrants, overturn Roe v. Wade, and more.
We cannot let them win this fight. Millions of Americans are counting on us to stand up, right now, and fight like hell to protect the Supreme Court -- not just for today, but for generations to come. The work of holding Senate Republicans accountable to the standard they set in 2016 starts now. To Joe and me, it is clear: The voters should pick a President, and that President should select a successor to Justice Ginsburg.
But we know, like you do, that the most important thing we can do to protect that legacy is not just winning the White House, but electing a Senate majority that will confirm fair-minded Supreme Court appointees who believe in equal justice under the law.
That’s why I’m asking you today to fight alongside me and to make sure that when the time comes, President Joe Biden can appoint a justice to Justice Ginsburg’s seat who will uphold the rule of law and fight for all of us.
The only way that happens is if we elect Joe Biden to be our next president and we flip the Senate. Nothing less.
Updated
Such was Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s standing that even members of the Trump family – who are hardly known for complimenting liberals – have been praising her life and career.
Donald and Eric Trump paid tribute to her last night, with the first lady and Donald Trump Jr joining them this morning.
Justice's Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing is a immense loss. Her tenacity & strength were matched by her intellect & compassion, & her spirit will live on in all she has inspired. My prayers are with her family & all who loved her. #RIPRBG
— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) September 19, 2020
“Agree with her or not, she was a true trailblazer and fighter until the end,” tweeted Donald Trump Jr this morning. The first lady, meanwhile, called Bader Ginsburg’s death “an immense loss”, adding on Twitter: “Her tenacity & strength were matched by her intellect & compassion, & her spirit will live on in all she has inspired. My prayers are with her family & all who loved her.”
Updated
If you’re asking yourself what happens next, or how the confirmation of a supreme court justice works, or any similar question, national affairs correspondent Tom McCarthy has just the piece for you:
It seems Joe Biden may be planning on staying quiet today…
The Biden campaign called a lid at 8:34 am on press pool access, meaning he’s not scheduled to make any more public appearances or personal statements (eg the Supreme Court) that the press can personally witness
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) September 19, 2020
…while Donald Trump has not yet passed comment this morning:
Has President Trump spoken with Leader McConnell about filling the SCOTUS vacancy? “Not that I’m aware of,” @PressSec tells reporters at the White House
— Monica Alba (@albamonica) September 19, 2020
Updated
Slight hobby horse here: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s replacement may well be decided and pushed through by a president who lost the popular vote by almost 3m ballots and a Senate where, if you count the popular vote, the party which holds control received almost 18m fewer than the one which sits in the minority.
Whichever way you think about that, even if you’re not like me and go to sleep every night cursing Gunning Bedford Jr and raving about why there should be two Dakotas, it’s a bizarre, alarming and uniquely American situation.
Here’s a very good explainer from Vox. And here’s a chunk of an interview I did this summer with someone else who thinks about such things, if in much greater detail and with far greater knowledge than me: former Obama speechwriter David Litt:
The administration lurches from crisis to crisis.
But Republicans who hold the Senate show a steadier hand, achieving structural change by confirming conservative judges. Reports suggest some Republicans are ready to lose the White House, so long as they keep the Senate.
“It’s a fascinating window into the way that our democracy and our political process have become warped,” Litt says. “Because now if you hold the Senate, and increasingly, all you need to do is hold 41 votes in the Senate [to be able to block legislation] … if you’re in the party that believes the government shouldn’t do anything, you can pretty much run the country with 41 senators.
“Republicans are also counting on the courts which they have packed to do their legislating for them. So they can sit back and watch Trump’s judges continue to enact Trump’s agenda, even if he leaves office.”
The whole piece is here:
Updated
McConnell – 'stronger than mule piss'
Senate Democrats will reportedly hold a caucus call at 1pm today, to discuss their first moves in the unfolding battle over a replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
In the meantime, should you find yourself wondering if Mitch McConnell will succeed in the coming fight to get a supreme court nomination done in less than 50 days, right before a presidential election – or in the lame duck period after it, if needs be – consider this.
When Donald Trump was wobbling on Brett Kavanaugh, his second supreme court nominee who faced accusations of sexual assault which, amid astonishing scenes in a Senate committee room, he strenuously denied, Mitch McConnell famously told the president: “I’m stronger than mule piss” on this guy.
Kavanaugh was duly confirmed to replace the retiring Anthony Kennedy, a conservative project done and dusted, and the Senate majority leader’s staff duly celebrated with special “Mule Piss” cocktails.
McConnell’s determination to remake the federal judiciary has been as widely reported as his “mule piss” remark. For just one instance, he told Tim Alberta of Politico, the author of American Carnage: On the Frontlines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump:
When I woke up the morning after election night 2016, I thought to myself, ‘These opportunities don’t come along very often. Let’s see how we can maximise it.’”
Good morning…
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on Friday at the age of 87, was a giant of American public life. Tributes have poured in, mourners have gathered at the court in Washington, its steps strewn with flowers.
Tributes and memorials will continue. But now she belongs to the ages, the politics of the Trump age can – and will – take things from here.
“My most fervent wish,” the justice said days before her death on Friday, “is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
She may not be, but the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and Donald Trump are going to give it a damned good try.
There are 45 days to go until the election and confirmations are lengthy and fraught things, as Brett Kavanaugh proved in 2018. But even should Trump lose to Joe Biden on 3 November, and the Democrats take back the Senate, there is a lame duck period until the inauguration in late January. Republicans in the Senate require a simple majority to put a fifth solid conservative – if you take Chief Justice John Roberts for a wobbler, as some on the right do – on the highest court.
The statements and views of key Republican senators now come under the spotlight.
Lindsey Graham, chair of the judiciary committee and an avid Trump ally facing a tough re-election fight in South Carolina, said this in 2016, when McConnell was refusing to give Barack Obama’s pick to replace Antonin Scalia, Merrick Garland, even so much as a hearing:
I want you to use my words against me. If there’s a Republican president … and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said, ‘Let’s let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination.’”
Lisa Murkowski of Atlanta, a moderate who has gone against Trump before, said this shortly before Ginsburg’s death: “I would not vote to confirm a supreme court nominee. We are 50-some days away from an election.”
Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate who has expressed concerns about any threat to abortion rights, is well down in her re-election race.
Mitt Romney of Utah isn’t up for re-election but he was the only Republican to vote to impeach Trump. He will be watched closely too.
Of course, the word of the average Republican senator – the average politician, to be fair – isn’t worth the tweet it’s written in or the microphone it’s hurriedly spoken into. A battle royale is on the way in Washington. Here’s Lauren Gambino:
