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| Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Washington braced for supreme court fight – live | Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Washington braced for supreme court fight – live |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Trump promises to nominate woman within a week but mourners at vigil and Democratic leaders vow to hit back | Trump promises to nominate woman within a week but mourners at vigil and Democratic leaders vow to hit back |
| Alaska Republican senator Lisa Murkowski said on Friday, before the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg had been announced, that if there was a vacancy on the supreme court she would not vote to confirm a nominee before November’s election. That, of course, would go against Donald Trump’s – and most Republicans’ – wish to get a (conservative) successor to Ginsburg in before the election. | |
| On Sunday morning Trump appeared to react to Murkowski’s comments. “No thanks!” he tweeted in reply to a promotion for a public appearance by the senator. | |
| Our Washington bureau chief went out to the steps of the supreme court last night, where tributes were paid to Ruth Bader Ginsburg – and determination to fight the Republican push to replace her was everywhere to be found… | |
| On a pavement across the street from the supreme court, school teacher Amanda Stafford chalked the words carefully: “That’s the dissenter’s hope: that they are writing not for today, but for tomorrow.” | |
| It was a quotation from Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a justice more renowned for her dissents than her majority opinions, including on the Bush v Gore case that decided the 2000 presidential election. Ginsburg died from pancreatic cancer on Friday aged 87, the newest jolt to an angry, divided and fragile nation. | |
| On Saturday night, as summer succumbed to the chill of autumn, thousands came to mourn her at a vigil outside the court in Washington. Some made speeches. Others sang songs. More joined hands or laid flowers and candles. Stafford paid tribute in chalk. | |
| “I wanted to show words that are empowering at a time when a lot of people are feeling worn out,” the 31-year-old from Alexandria, Virginia, explained. “As a woman in a country getting ever more divided, it’s important to come out and make a stand for someone who made this her life’s work.” | |
| David’s full report is here: | |
| Donald Trump is tweeting this morning, notably about “VIRGINIA” Not the name of his promised female nominee for the court – sorry, feeble, but yesterday was a long one and I still need coffee – but a state where he wants to win, despite or perhaps because of recent reports that his campaign has given up on the commonwealth, which was once red and then purple but is more and more turning a rather deep blue. | |
| “VIRGINIA,” the president wrote, “and everywhere else for that matter, I am the only thing standing between you and your 2nd Amendment. If I am re-elected, it is 100% SAFE. If not, it is GONE!” | |
| In terms of what Trump would like or not like to be talking about on the trail right now, gun rights, and indeed supreme court picks, are decidedly not the coronavirus pandemic. And as it happens, there’s a poll out this morning, from ABC News and Ipsos, which says 69% of Americans have no confidence in Trump’s promises of a safe and widely available Covid-19 vaccine within weeks. | |
| For what it’s worth, speaking of polls, the fivethirtyeight.com average puts Joe Biden 11 points up in Virginia. | |
| The internet duly lit up on Saturday after Donald Trump, speaking to reporters on leaving the White House for a rally in North Carolina, illustrated his promise to pick a woman for the supreme court with hand gestures which appeared to outline the shape of a woman’s body. | The internet duly lit up on Saturday after Donald Trump, speaking to reporters on leaving the White House for a rally in North Carolina, illustrated his promise to pick a woman for the supreme court with hand gestures which appeared to outline the shape of a woman’s body. |
| Amy Coney Barrett and Barbara Lagoa are reported to be top of the president’s list of possible replacements for Ruth Bader Ginsburg. | Amy Coney Barrett and Barbara Lagoa are reported to be top of the president’s list of possible replacements for Ruth Bader Ginsburg. |
| “A woman would be in first place, yes,” the president said on Saturday, making the gesture. “The choice of a woman I would say would certainly be appropriate.” | “A woman would be in first place, yes,” the president said on Saturday, making the gesture. “The choice of a woman I would say would certainly be appropriate.” |
| Trump has made inappropriate gestures when speaking about women before. At an October 2016 rally in Greensboro, North Carolina – then as now a swing state – Trump made groping gestures while discussing allegations of sexual misconduct against him. | Trump has made inappropriate gestures when speaking about women before. At an October 2016 rally in Greensboro, North Carolina – then as now a swing state – Trump made groping gestures while discussing allegations of sexual misconduct against him. |
| This week, Emily Dorris, by some counts Trump’s 26th accuser of sexual misconduct detailed her allegations to the Guardian. As with all the other accusations, Trump denied them. | This week, Emily Dorris, by some counts Trump’s 26th accuser of sexual misconduct detailed her allegations to the Guardian. As with all the other accusations, Trump denied them. |
| …and welcome to another day’s coverage of politics in the US, dominated by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the looming fight over who will replace her on the supreme court. | …and welcome to another day’s coverage of politics in the US, dominated by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the looming fight over who will replace her on the supreme court. |
| The liberal heroine died on Friday, from complications arising from pancreatic cancer and at the age of 87. Tributes poured in. | The liberal heroine died on Friday, from complications arising from pancreatic cancer and at the age of 87. Tributes poured in. |
| And then the plotting started. | And then the plotting started. |
| Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said he would put a nominee to the vote, even though there were less than 50 days to go to the presidential election and, infamously, in 2016 he denied Obama nominee Merrick Garland a hearing for eight months, saying no such nomination should be made in an election year. | Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said he would put a nominee to the vote, even though there were less than 50 days to go to the presidential election and, infamously, in 2016 he denied Obama nominee Merrick Garland a hearing for eight months, saying no such nomination should be made in an election year. |
| Donald Trump said he would move swiftly to nominate a replacement for Ginsburg, and later confirmed it would be a woman. Most observers expect it to be Amy Coney Barrett, a strict Catholic viewed with apprehension by pro-choice campaigners. | Donald Trump said he would move swiftly to nominate a replacement for Ginsburg, and later confirmed it would be a woman. Most observers expect it to be Amy Coney Barrett, a strict Catholic viewed with apprehension by pro-choice campaigners. |
| Lindsey Graham, the chair of the Senate judiciary committee who will steer the nomination, was on record in the Garland fight saying no justice should be confirmed so close to an election. No matter – by day’s end, citing as motivation Democratic moves in the bitter partisan warfare of the last decade, he said he was game. He would seek to advance Trump’s nominee. | Lindsey Graham, the chair of the Senate judiciary committee who will steer the nomination, was on record in the Garland fight saying no justice should be confirmed so close to an election. No matter – by day’s end, citing as motivation Democratic moves in the bitter partisan warfare of the last decade, he said he was game. He would seek to advance Trump’s nominee. |
| And so to the trenches, where all is not so simple. The Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate. That means that in a process which could even extend into the lame duck period after the election on 3 November, even should Trump lose to Joe Biden, they can lose three votes and still pass a nominee with Vice-President Mike Pence the tiebreaker. Two Republican moderates, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, are on record saying they think the winner of the presidential election should pick the new justice. And in Arizona, a special election to replace John McCain could seat a new Democrat, Mark Kelly, by early November. | And so to the trenches, where all is not so simple. The Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate. That means that in a process which could even extend into the lame duck period after the election on 3 November, even should Trump lose to Joe Biden, they can lose three votes and still pass a nominee with Vice-President Mike Pence the tiebreaker. Two Republican moderates, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, are on record saying they think the winner of the presidential election should pick the new justice. And in Arizona, a special election to replace John McCain could seat a new Democrat, Mark Kelly, by early November. |
| All eyes are on Mitt Romney of Utah – not up for election, a proven enemy of Trump – and others in tight re-election fights, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Cory Gardner of Colorado among them. Would McConnell prefer to keep hold of the Senate or tilt the court right for a generation? That is the question – or one of them. | All eyes are on Mitt Romney of Utah – not up for election, a proven enemy of Trump – and others in tight re-election fights, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Cory Gardner of Colorado among them. Would McConnell prefer to keep hold of the Senate or tilt the court right for a generation? That is the question – or one of them. |
| For further reading, here’s our columnist Robert Reich on how for McConnell, one of the most ruthless, and opponents say damaging, Washington operators of all time, power always trumps principle: | For further reading, here’s our columnist Robert Reich on how for McConnell, one of the most ruthless, and opponents say damaging, Washington operators of all time, power always trumps principle: |