SCOTUS battle reshapes 2020 election

Vice President Mike Pence speaks as President Donald Trump participates in a signing ceremony and meeting with the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic and the Prime Minister of Kosovo Avdullah Hoti in the Oval Office of the White House on September 4 in Washington.

Vice President Mike Pence told CBS’ Norah O’Donnell that President Trump “is anxious to move the process forward” on nominating a justice to the Supreme Court.

When asked whether Trump wants his choice confirmed to the Supreme Court before Election Day in case the results go to the court, Pence said that is one reason why there should be nine justices in November.

“In the event that questions – either regarding mail-in voting or regarding the outcome of the election go to the Supreme Court – it’s just one more reason why we owe it to the American people that we owe it to all the institutions of government to ensure that we have nine justices on the Supreme Court of the United States,” he said.

On whether Trump is interested in Judge Amy Coney Barrett as a nominee for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, Pence said, “I just know that Judge Barrett will follow the Constitution, as will all the finalists.”

Plaintiff Jim Obergefell holds a photo of his late husband John Arthur as he speaks to members of the media after the US Supreme Court handed down a ruling regarding same-sex marriage June 26, 2015 outside the Supreme Court in Washington.

Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage in the United States, said filling Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg seat should not be political, adding the country did not have a chance to mourn her death.

“The fact that McConnell issues that statement shortly after it was announced, he isn’t giving her the chance to be honored and to be remembered and to be respected,” he told CNN on Monday, referring to a comments by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that President Trump’s nominee would get a vote.

Obergefell added that McConnell’s statement turned the search for a new Supreme Court justice into “a political fight, which it should not be.”

In 2015, it was Ginsburg who led the liberal block of the court as it voted in favor of same-sex marriage with the critical fifth vote of Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Obergefell said he is “more concerned about marriage equality as well as other issues of equality for all marginalized groups” without Ginsburg on the court.

“If Trump is able to nominate and have a judge confirmed, I am very concerned about our rights taken away and other rights being denied under a newly, very conservative court,” he said.

Obergefell said Ginsburg’s legacy was that she was a champion for equality.

“She also understood that the Constitution is a living, breathing document” and that it has to change as society adapted and people learned more about each other, he said.

Some background about the case: Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the case, married his spouse John Arthur in 2013 months before Arthur died.

The couple, who lived in Ohio, had to travel to Maryland aboard a medical jet to get married when Arthur became gravely ill. And when Arthur died, Obergefell began to fight to be recognized as Arthur’s spouse on his death certificate.

“We wanted our relationship, our marriage to exist,” Obergefell told CNN.

Watch here:

President Donald Trump salutes before a rally at Dayton International Airport in Dayton, Ohio, on September 21.

President Trump took a bizarre poll of the crowd at a rally near Dayton, Ohio, asking his audience if they’d like to see a man or a woman appointed to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“We’re working very hard at getting a third Supreme Court justice,” Trump told the crowd. “The only thing I’ll say for the women: it will be a woman.”

“Uh oh,” Trump said with a smile, pointing to something. It’s not clear if he was actually responding to anything. “There are a lot of angry people.”

The President continued, telling the crowd, “Okay here’s a question. Okay. It will be a woman, does anybody here, please raise your hand if you have the courage, is there anybody here that insists that it will be and should be a man?”

Turning it into a game, he asked, “who would like to see a woman justice of the Supreme Court?”

He paused for applause. “Who would like to see a male justice of the Supreme Court?”

“The only one I hear there is women. Some women. What’s that all about?” Trump responded to the people cheering for a male pick.

He then assured the crowd that, “It will be a woman. It will be a woman,” adding, “it’s a big day for our country, it’s a big day for you.”

Late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will become the first woman in history to lie in state in the US Capitol, according to congressional historians.

Additionally, Ginsburg will be only the second Supreme Court Justice to lie in state since President William Howard Taft.

Rosa Parks was the first woman to lie in honor in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in 2005.

The architect of the Capitol notes on its website that in the case of government officials and military officers, “The Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol has been considered the most suitable place for the nation to pay final tribute to its most eminent citizens by having their remains lay in state.” 

When a private citizen such as Parks is paid the tribute, the ceremony is called lying in honor. 

When lying in state, five guards of honor, each representing the five branches of the Armed Forces, will stand watch over the remains.

For recipients who have been designated to lie in honor, the United States Capitol Police instead act as civilian guards of honor, the website notes.

Ginsburg will lie in state on Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced earlier Monday.

A postal worker empties a box near the Fiserv Forum on Tuesday, Aug. 18, in Milwaukee.

In a victory for Democrats, a federal judge in Wisconsin ruled that mail-in ballots can be received by Nov. 9, six days after Election Day, provided they are postmarked by Nov. 3.

The ruling comes after Democrats won similar victories in Pennsylvania and Georgia, where postmark deadlines have also been extended. Taken together, if the rulings stand, they ensure that tens of thousands of ballots that would’ve been rejected due to lateness will end up getting counted.

It’s one of several changes that are included in the ruling. 

The ruling also gives voters one more week to register to vote, pushing the deadline from Oct. 14 to Oct. 21 and allows voters to receive replacement ballots from Oct. 22 to Oct. 29 for those who requested ballots but did not receive them.

The ruling also allows election officials to be residents of other counties within Wisconsin.

The judge stayed the ruling for one week to give Republicans time to appeal. “NO voter can depend on any extension of deadlines for electronic and mail-in registration and for receipt of absentee ballots unless finally upheld on appeal. In the meantime, lest they effectively lose their right to do so by the vagaries of COVID-19, mail processing or other, unforeseen developments leading up to the November election, the court joins the WEC in urging especially new Wisconsin voters to register by mail on or before October 14, 2020, and all voters to do so by absentee ballot as soon as possible,” Conley cautioned.

Democrats have said they want postmark deadlines extended to ensure more voters’ ballots are counted. But the later deadlines also inject more uncertainty into an already fragile post-election process. They could complicate efforts by news organizations to promptly project winners – because the pool of possible eligible votes will continue growing for several days after the polls close.

Farbod Faraji, counsel for Protect Democracy, said, “the court’s decision is a significant step toward ensuring that our democracy does not slide even further into peril.

“This decision will help ensure that Wisconsinites can exercise their sacred right to cast a ballot freely and safely,” Faraji added.

U.S. Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, is shown in this official undated photo released by the Florida Supreme Court.

President Trump has already spoken with some of the women on his shortlist to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court, the President said Monday, adding that he’d like to see a vote on his pick before the election. 

Trump, who also told reporters at the White House he would announce the pick “Friday or Saturday,” said “five women are being vetted and looked at very carefully,” some of which he spoke with “today and yesterday,” and the day before.

Asked if he would meet with all the women in person, Trump responded, “I don’t know, I doubt it. But we’ll meet with a few probably.”

One of those women may be Barbara Lagoa, who lives in the Miami area where Trump will visit this weekend. 

“I may,” Trump said, when asked if he would meet with Lagoa. “She’s a – highly thought of. Got a lot of support. I’m getting lot of phone calls from a lot of people. I don’t know her but I hear she’s outstanding.”

A confirmation timeline: Trump said he would “much rather have a vote before the election because there’s a lot of work to be done and I’d much rather have it.” 

“I’m just doing my constitutional obligation,” he added.

Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden arrives to deliver remarks at an aluminum manufacturing facility in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on September 21.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden did not weigh in on the ongoing battle over filling the vacancy left on the Supreme Court after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg during a speech in Wisconsin on Monday. 

The former vice president instead focused his remarks on criticizing President Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed nearly 200,000 Americans, and making an appeal to working class voters. 

Biden wore a mask for the duration of his remarks, complying with the state’s mandate that face coverings be worn indoors and in enclosed spaces. In recent speeches in other states Biden has taken off his mask to deliver his remarks. 

Biden has said that the country should honor Ginsburg’s wishes and not fill her Supreme Court seat until after the presidential election and inauguration.

The former vice president’s remarks on Monday came minutes after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took to the Senate floor and said Trump’s nominee “will receive a vote on the floor of the Senate.” Trump said he would unveil his selection to replace Ginsburg by the end of the week. 

The vacancy on the high court offers Trump the opportunity to install a third conservative justice on the court during his first term in office and bolster his legacy. 

Ginsburg, who died on Friday, told her granddaughter that she wanted her replacement to be appointed by the next president, according to NPR. 

“My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” Ginsburg dictated to granddaughter, Clara Spera, days before her death.

Sen. John Cornyn talks with Sen. Chris Coons before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "Oversight of the Crossfire Hurricane Investigation" on Capitol Hill on August 5 in Washington.

Ahead of a GOP Senate leadership meeting tonight, GOP Sen. John Cornyn was asked if the Senate would confirm a Trump nominee in a lame-duck session if Joe Biden wins the presidency.

His response: “You mean while we’re still in our term office, and President Trump is? Of course.”

Cornyn, a member of the leadership team, was asked if the vote could happen before the election. He said that it typically takes more than two months and added that the ones that happened quicker were consensus nominees.

“You know, it’s sort of like a vaccine — I’m for doing vaccine when it’s safe and effective. But I’m not for accelerating the process just for that,” he said,

Asked about taking the opposite position in 2016, Cornyn said, “That’s because President Obama was term limited out.”

A full meeting of Senate Republicans is scheduled for Tuesday. 

As the US nears 200,000 coronavirus deaths, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is delivering remarks from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where he called on the country to not “let the numbers become statistics of background noise.”

“We can’t let that happen. We can’t lose the ability to feel the sorrow and the loss and the anger for so many lives lost,” Biden continued.

Biden used his speech to slam Trump’s coronavirus response, saying he “froze, he failed to act, he panicked.”

Trump’s rival also took a swipe at the President’s rallies. 

“Oh, he loves his rallies. And the next time he holds one, look closely. Trump keeps his distance from anyone in the rally. The folks who come are packed in tight as they could be, risking disease, mostly without masks. But not Trump,” Biden said.

Watch here:

Speaking on the Senate floor, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Trump’s nominee to replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg “will receive a vote on the floor of the Senate.”

McConnell said the same individuals who “tried every conceivable dirty trick to obstruct Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh are lining up, lining up to proclaim the third time will be the charm.”

The top Republican senator said the American people are “about to witness an astonishing parade of misrepresentations about the past, misstatements about the present, and more threats against our institutions.”

McConnell claimed the Senate “has more than sufficient time to process a nomination” before the election.

“We are already hearing incorrect claims that there is not sufficient time to examine and confirm a nominee. We can debunk this myth in about 30 seconds,” he said, adding, “As of today there are 43 days until November 3 and 104 days until the end of this Congress. The late, iconic Justice John Paul Stevens was confirmed by the Senate 19 days after this body formally received his nomination. Nineteen days from start to finish.”

McConnell sought to rebut criticism over his handling of the Merrick Garland nomination by arguing as he has before that the circumstances are different now. He said that there is “overwhelming precedent behind the fact that this Senate will vote on this nomination this year.”

The GOP leader paid tribute to Ginsburg, calling her a “brilliant generational legal mind who climbed past one obstacle after another to summit the very pinnacle of her profession.” 

Some background: Trump said earlier today that he would unveil his selection to replace Ginsburg by the end of the week after spending the weekend fielding advice and floating potential nominees to a wide orbit of advisers.

The decision on who to nominate to replace the late jurist and women’s rights icon — and when to nominate her — amounts to one of the biggest decisions of Trump’s presidency.

“I think it’ll be on Friday or Saturday and we want to pay respect,” Trump said in a Monday morning interview on “Fox and Friends.”

“It looks like we will have probably services on Thursday or Friday, as I understand it,” he went on. “And I think the respect we should wait for the services to be over for Justice Ginsburg. So we’re looking at probably Friday or maybe Saturday.”

Read more here.

Watch here:

In this February 2, 2020 photo, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at Hiatt Middle School in Des Moines, Iowa.

The Biden campaign announced Monday that it is expanding its advertising footprint in battleground states, going up on the air in Georgia and Iowa. 

Additionally, the campaign is releasing new ads on TV and digital targeting Black voters in Georgia featuring its “Shop Talk” series. 

“Shop Talk: Criminal Justice Reform” features a group of African American men discussing criminal justice issues facing their communities, families, and selves, and why America needs Joe Biden’s plan for strengthening America’s commitment to justice, according to the campaign.

“Shop Talk: Yes She Can” features a conversation “about the historic nature of Kamala Harris’ candidacy as the first African American woman on the ticket.” The previously released ads “We Are Listening” and “He Knew” will also be airing in Georgia markets.

The campaign’s ads in Iowa will seek to draw a contrast between the Democratic presidential nominee and President Trump, focusing on the economy, Biden’s ability to unify the country, Covid-19 and the President’s response to the pandemic.

The campaign says it is up on the air now in a total of 12 battleground states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Nebraska, and Minnesota.

Organizers with NextGen America will send a message to Sen. Chuck Grassley by pigeon mail, they told CNN Monday.

NextGen has hired a carrier pigeon service called “PigeonGram” to deliver the message, which will urge Grassley to delay a vote on a Supreme Court nominee.

The Iowa Republican has yet to comment on whether or not he believes a vote on a nominee should happen this year following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last week.

The plans from NextGen, the progressive youth voter engagement organization founded by businessman Tom Steyer, come after Grassley tweeted about a dead pigeon Friday.  

Grassley, who is known to run his own Twitter account, found a dead pigeon on his lawn and tweeted, “If u lost ur pet pidgin /it’s dead in front yard my Iowa farm JUST DISCOVERED here r identifiers Right leg Blue 2020/3089/AU2020/SHE ///LEFT LEG GREEN BAND NO PRINTED INFO. Sorry for bad news.”

“We saw that there was a lot of attention around the pigeon, and we wanted to draw more attention to the issue that we’ve been talking to young people about, which is honoring RBG’s dying wish,” Murphy Burke, an organizer with NextGen in Iowa, told CNN. 

NextGen plans to have the message delivered to Grassley at the US Capitol after President Trump announces his Supreme Court pick later this week. 

The US Postal Service will help with most of the delivery.

Burke noted that while the message will be in-part delivered by pigeon, the act is mostly symbolic. The message Grassley receives will come in an envelope from PigeonGram, indicating that it was carried in part by a homing pigeon.

“A pigeon cannot really deliver mail in this day and age,” Burke told CNN. “But we like the fact that the envelope will say the message was carried by a homing pigeon.”

In addition to its plans to contact Grassley by pigeon mail, NextGen is urging young people across the country to send messages to their senators to refuse to hold a vote on a Supreme Court nominee until after the November election. 

Following Ginsburg’s death, NextGen released new Senate ads in Maine, North Carolina, Iowa and Arizona Saturday highlighting the importance of electing Democrats to the Senate, which could allow them to reclaim the majority. 

NextGen’s efforts come as a number of youth led groups work to convince senators to hold off on a Supreme Court nomination vote.

Sunrise Movement, the youth-led climate organization, demonstrated outside the homes of Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Thom Tillis of North Carolina on Monday.

The group plans to target other Republican senators — Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — as well as potential Supreme Court nominee Barbara Lagoa of Florida later this week.

“We only need four Republicans to do the right thing and stick to the McConnell precedent,” Aracely Jimenez, deputy communications director for Sunrise, said in a statement Monday. “We must do everything in our power to hold vulnerable Republicans and also Senate Democrats accountable in order to prevent an appointment to the bench before Biden is sworn in.” 

In the coming days, March For Our Lives, the gun violence prevention organization, plans to demonstrate outside the offices of Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, David Perdue of Georgia, Mitt Romney of Utah and Martha McSally of Arizona. 

March For Our Lives is also encouraging participants to get involved virtually by emailing senators using a pre-filled form, text banking, and faxing senator letters, asking them to hold off on a vote.

The pandemic has reshaped the American election process this year. Do you have questions about registering or voting, whether in person or by mail? Are you confused about how to request or return your mail-in ballot? What do you want to know about how votes will be counted and secured?

Ask us your questions below. We may follow up on some responses for upcoming stories.

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Pressed multiple times on when President Trump’s health care plan was coming, White House deputy press secretary Brian Morgenstern would only say “soon.” Asked if it would be before the election, Morgenstern answered it would be “very soon.”

“The American people will never have to guess where President Trump stands on a very important issue,” he told CNN’s Brianna Keilar.

Asked further about the timing and substance of the alleged plan, Morgenstern eventually quipped, “I don’t know if you expected me to bring it with me here to this interview, but the President will release it on his timeline very soon.”

 “There is a plan,” he claimed. “He will describe it clearly to the American people.”

Some background: Trump has long promised to release a health care plan that could replace Obamacare, but he is yet to do so. In an Aug. 3 news conference, Trump said his health care plan would most likely be released before the end of the month. But August came and went and the President never released a plan. It marks the latest instance of Trump promising an Obamacare solution that never came.

In a town hall with ABC last week, journalist George Stephanopoulos also pressed Trump on his plan. The President told him he has it “all ready.” Morgenstern told CNN today Trump will roll out his plan “when he is ready to do so.”

Watch the interview:

The White House is trying to justify the Republican double standard for appointing and confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year, claiming, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has, that filling a seat on the court is appropriate now because “the Republican majority… was expanded in 2018 running on confirming constitutionalist judges.”

In a contentious interview with CNN’s Brianna Keilar, White House deputy press secretary Brian Morgenstern said the situation with Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court was “fundamentally different” than in 2016 when President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland.

Faced with Republican senators’ own words from 2016, including Sen. Lindsey Graham’s seemingly unequivocal assertion that “if 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,” Morgenstern called the 2016 election a referendum on the Supreme Court.

“It was a referendum on the U.S. Supreme Court in that President Trump released his list of well-qualified, constitutionalist judges, the Republican senators ran on confirming such judges and justices. So this is about fundamental rights, it’s about our right to free speech, to practice our religion, it’s about the right to bear arms, it’s about really the bill of rights and preserving the God-given rights especially at a time now, Briana where in our country we have a radical left that seems bent on destroying our institutions,” he said, talking around the question of hypocrisy.

Watch the interview:

Democratic U.S. Vice Presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris speaks to the press before participating in a Latino roundtable event on September 17, in Philadelphia. 

Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris reiterated her running mate Joe Biden’s call to allow the next elected President choose the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s replacement while on Instagram Live with journalist April Ryan.

Harris said that Ginsburg is “among the shoulders I stand on.”

“People are voting right now. People have been voting. So the election has actually started,” she said. Harris put specific emphasis on casting the SCOTUS debate in terms of Obamacare and the health care apparatus at large. 

But Harris reaffirmed Biden would nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court if elected, saying “Joe’s gonna keep his word,” but when asked if Biden would expand the court past nine judges who she would recommend, Harris didn’t answer. “April, I am focused on the next 43 day,” she said and encouraged everyone to early vote.  

On debate prep, Harris said she and Biden are doing it separately and then when asked what advice she is giving Biden because Trump fights dirty, the California senator called her running mate a fighter.

Harris said she was not concerned about polling showing the race tightening because “it’s part of the nature of the process. The numbers always now the closer you get to an election,” she said.

The US Postal Service must prioritize election mail and reverse some key policy changes imposed by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a federal judge ruled on Monday, saying that “managerial failures” at the agency undermined the public’s faith in mail-in voting. 

US District Judge Victor Marrero in New York’s Southern District became the second federal judge to side against USPS in the past week. A judge in Washington state ordered many similar changes on Friday and blasted the Trump administration for what he called a “politically motivated attack” on USPS.

In the Monday ruling, Marrero ordered USPS to treat all election mail as first-class mail or priority mail express, and ordered USPS to “pre-approve” all overtime requests for the two weeks surrounding Election Day, to make sure absentee ballots are processed properly.

He continued, “while the Court has no doubts that the Postal Service’s workforce comprises hardworking and dedicated public servants, multiple managerial failures have undermined the postal employees’ ability to fulfill their vital mission.”

These changes will go into effect on Friday, the judge said. USPS has been ordered to agree to these terms in a settlement with the voters and candidates that brought the lawsuit. If there is no settlement by Friday, then Marrero’s orders will automatically kick in, according to the ruling.

For more American voters than ever, mail-in voting is an option this year, but the rules depend on where you live. Click here to see your state guidance.

Joe Biden boards a plane en route to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, at New Castle Airport in Delaware on September 21.

In his speech in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, today, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will address the US nearing 200,000 Covid-19 deaths and criticize President Trump’s handling of the pandemic, a Biden campaign aide said.

Biden will “warn against the risk of growing numb to the increasing death toll” and urge Americans to adopt prevention measures, like mask-wearing, to prevent further deaths, the aide said.

In his second trip to Wisconsin this month, Biden is visiting a county Trump won by nearly 22 points eight years after Barack Obama carried it by eight points. Obama lost the county by three points in 2012.

Biden will try to appeal to “Obama-Trump voters,” the aide said, and emphasize his “Scranton vs. Park Avenue” framing for this election.

The aide would not detail whether Biden would discuss the Supreme Court vacancy in his speech.

A third Supreme Court justice appointed by President Trump will tilt the court to a clear 6-3 conservative majority with long-term consequences in several cases like the future of Obamacare and Trump’s financial documents.

With Trump looking at a list of potential justices that skews younger in age, CNN legal analyst Joan Biskupic said it will affect the law for generations to come.

Legal ethics expert Steve Vladeck said such a bench would lead to several 6-3 majority opinions in future Supreme Court cases.

“We haven’t seen a court this conservative since the new deal, we haven’t seen an appointment to the court that moved the court so sharply to the right since Justice Thomas was appointed to replace Thurgood Marshall,” he said. “This is why everybody’s dander is up to such an extent. It’s not just that the election is two months away. It’s that everyone understands the stakes of filling this particular seat at this moment in American history.”

The politics at play: Republicans now have an opportunity to re-engage some of their disaffected voters by pointing to Trump’s extensive efforts to reshape the judiciary. When Trump released a list of more than 20 potential Supreme Court nominees earlier this month, he had appointed 205 federal judges, including two Supreme Court nominees, according to a spokeswoman for the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Amy Coney Barrett speaks in May 2018 at the University of Notre Dame's Law School commencement ceremony in South Bend, Indiana.

President Trump has vowed to appoint a woman to replace late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg after circulating a roster of more than 20 potential nominees in recent weeks that includes prominent and lesser-known conservatives who would undoubtedly tilt the court further rightward if appointed.

One of the more notable members of Trump’s list of potential nominees is Amy Coney Barrett.

A former clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, Barrett was Trump’s pick for a seat on the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

Born in 1972, she served as a professor of law at her alma mater, Notre Dame.

During her confirmation hearing, she had a contentious exchange with Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, who asked her about past writings concerning faith and the law. At one point, Feinstein asked Barrett if the “dogma lives loudly in her.” Supporters of Barrett suggested Feinstein was attempting to apply a religious litmus test to the nominee.

Barrett is quoted in a 2013 publication affiliated with Notre Dame as saying she thinks it is “very unlikely at this point” that the Supreme Court is going to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 abortion decision that legalized abortion in the US.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has spoken to Trump more than once this weekend and has indicated to him that he and GOP senators know Barrett well, suggesting that her nomination might move quicker because they know her record, according to a source familiar with the matter.

But the suggestion of a Barrett nomination met sharp disapproval from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer who said at a news conference Sunday evening that she “stands for all the things Ruth Bader Ginsburg was against and so many things that the vast majority of American people are against.”

Read more about Trump’s other potential picks here.

Flowers and messages are left at a makeshift memorial for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in front of the Supreme Court on September 19.

After she lies in repose at the Supreme Court on Wednesday and Thursday, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will then lie in state in National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol on Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Monday.   

Read a portion of Pelosi’s announcement:

A formal ceremony will be held Friday morning, and due to the coronavirus pandemic, the ceremony will be open to invited guests only, the statement said.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is photographed at the US Supreme Court in August 2013.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will lie in repose at the US Supreme Court on Wednesday and Thursday, the court announced Monday.

A private ceremony will be held in the Great Hall at the court on Wednesday with family, close friends and members of the court. Following the ceremony, Ginsburg will lie in repose on top of the front steps for the public.

According to a statement, former law clerks to Justice Ginsburg will serve as honorary pallbearers and will line the front steps as the casket arrives.

The Supreme Court justices will remain inside the Great Hall where the casket will be placed on the Lincoln Catafalque, which has been loaned to the court by the Congress for the ceremony. A 2016 portrait of Justice Ginsburg by Constance P. Beaty will be on display in the Great Hall.

A private interment will be held next week at Arlington National Cemetery.

The CNN Poll of Polls tracks the national average in the race for president between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

The poll of polls includes the most recent national telephone polls which meet CNN’s standards for reporting and which measure the views of registered or likely voters. The poll of polls does not have a margin of sampling error.

Here’s the latest poll of polls (as of Sept. 20):

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s bench chair and the bench directly in front of it at the Supreme Court are draped in memoriam with black wool crepe.

Hoping to shift the public’s attention from his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump moved quickly on Saturday to make the new Supreme Court vacancy a central issue in his campaign, announcing he would name a woman to replace Ginsburg this week.

Trump, who had been facing a potentially historic deficit with women voters in part because of their disapproval of his handling of the pandemic, addressed Ginsburg’s death moments after he stepped on stage at his campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Saturday night, calling her “a legal giant” whose “landmark rulings, fierce devotion to justice, and her courageous battle against cancer inspire all Americans.”

As the crowd began chanting “Fill That Seat!” Trump said he had not made a final choice but was inclined to choose a woman — and then, with a theatrical flourish and no hint of irony, took a snap poll of the crowd to gauge whether they preferred a man or a woman to fill the seat of a justice who was an equal rights icon.

“It will be a woman, a very talented, very brilliant woman,” Trump said, after the crowd overwhelmingly cheered for a female nominee. “I haven’t chosen yet, but we have numerous women on the list.”

For months, Biden has outpaced him by double digits among female voters. And as Trump has watched his numbers erode among White suburban women – he clumsily attempted to appeal to the “suburban housewives of America” with his law-and-order message – Trump seemed delighted Saturday night to have the opportunity to talk about elevating a female nominee to the highest court, noting at one point that he liked women better than men.

He called on Biden once again to release his list of potential nominees to the high court, but suggested it would be too politically fraught for the former vice president to do so.

Read more here.

Only 43 days until the US election, Senate Republicans have put themselves on the path to confirm a nominee to dramatically shift the balance of power in the US Supreme Court.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can lose three Republicans if this vote is held before Election Day, because Vice President Mike Pence can cast a potential tie-breaking vote.

McConnell has already lost two — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. But finding another two Republican lawmakers who are going to defy their leader on an issue that is as core to Republican orthodoxy as the highest court, that’s tough.

When an actual vote could take place: McConnell hasn’t said if a vote will happen before or after the election. And, he may not have to decide tomorrow, this week or even this month.

It is possible Republicans start down this road, get a nominee, hold hearings and debate without a public pronouncement of when a vote will actually take place. That gives campaigns time to poll and McConnell more time to win over his conference.

It also is a fact that predicting a timeline this early in the game isn’t necessary or even practical. Need proof? See the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh.

Read more here.

morat Joe Biden’s campaign and aligned Democratic Party committees entered September and the fall sprint to Election Day with $466 million in cash reserves — giving the former vice president a significant financial advantage over President Trump.

Team Biden’s cash position, released by his campaign Sunday night, puts the Democratic nominee and his party about $141 million ahead of Trump’s political operation. It represents a sharp reversal from the opening months of the general election when Trump enjoyed a formidable financial lead.

The New York Times first reported Biden’s cash stockpile.

Heavy spending by Trump and record-breaking fundraising by Biden and his allies in August as he added California Sen. Kamala Harris to the ticket helped Democrats overtake the President and the Republican National Committee.

Trump and his joint operation with Republicans started September with $325 million in its cash stockpile, Trump campaign spokesperson Tim Murtaugh announced on Twitter late last week.

The numbers released Sunday came as campaigns filed reports with federal regulators detailing their fundraising and spending during August.

Read more here.

In a Monday morning interview on “Fox and Friends,” President Trump discussed the election and admitted that he has to “assume” former vice president Joe Biden will do “great” in the debates. The first presidential debate is set to take place next week.

“Look, I think he’s a professional. I don’t know if he’s all there but I think he’s a professional… and that he can debate,” Trump said when asked about debating Biden next week.

“I have to assume he’s going to do great — because he’s been there 47 years he’s been in the public service. A long time,” he continued.

Trump then added digs against the Democratic presidential candidate saying, “ I don’t understand what’s going on he doesn’t seem to be answering questions and he can’t answer questions. And much worse, a little while ago when he was on stage with the democrats — he couldn’t do well. He did okay with Bernie — it was sort of a tie. It was nothing great… It was ok. It was fine.”

Asked about the Biden campaign’s huge financial edge on his campaign, the president pointed to the last election where he was also outspent by the Clinton campaign. When asked whether he would spend his own money, Trump said: “I would do that…if we needed money- but we don’t need money.”

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden intends to make a push on health care in the wake of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death as a political fight over the Supreme Court vacancy is already underway.

In the immediate days after Ginsburg’s passing, the Biden campaign has not signaled a fundamental shift in its campaign strategy, which has hinged on the coronavirus pandemic and the economy, as President Trump quickly moved to make the Supreme Court vacancy a central issue in his campaign.

Instead, Biden campaign officials say the former vice president plans to make defending the Affordable Care Act and its sweeping protections for pre-existing conditions a key focus, with an aide saying they view the President’s efforts to dismantle Obamacare as a motivating issue for voters.

Biden started that push with a speech in Philadelphia Sunday as he assailed Trump’s support of a Republican-led challenge to the Affordable Care Act as the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the case one week after the election.

“In the middle of the worst global health crisis in living memory, Donald Trump is before the Supreme Court trying to strip health care coverage away from tens of millions of families, to strip away the peace of mind of more than 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions,” Biden said in a speech at the National Constitution Center.

Biden also repeated his call for the Senate not to consider a nominee until after voters have selected the president in this year’s election.

Visit CNN’s Election Center for full coverage of the 2020 race

As President Trump and Joe Biden enter the fall sprint to Election Day, both candidates hit the campaign trail today and are set to deliver remarks.

Check out CNN’s Poll of Polls which tracks the national average in the race here.

Senate Republicans, in less than 72 hours, have put themselves on the path to confirm a nominee to dramatically shift the balance of power in the US Supreme Court. And they very well may do it before the November 3 election.

Bottom line: There is no on-ramp or slow lead-up to what’s happening at this moment, in the middle of an increasingly divisive election taking place in a fractured country. A colossal battle, the contours of which have been laid over years of judicial fights, disputes and wars, was under way within hours of the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Republicans have grown more and more confident they can confirm the liberal icon’s successor in the weeks ahead, according to senators and senior aides. But how ‚ and when — is still coming together.

What to watch today:

Days until the election: 43

The reversal: Republicans have had no issue doing a complete 180-degree shift on their 2016 position on holding open a seat in an election year. Officially, it’s because the circumstances are different – unlike 2016, the White House and Senate are controlled by the same party.

The reality is this is just a raw power play. Republicans have the power. They’re going to exert that power, and no amount of video clips or old quotes that seemingly make them appear to be hypocrites will change that, according to more than a dozen senators and top aides to whom we spoke over the weekend.

“They’d do the same thing,” a GOP senator told CNN, rationalizing the turnabout.

Read more here.

Watch:

President Trump discussed his Supreme Court nominee in an interview with Fox and Friends this morning, saying he is still looking at 4 to 5 candidates “very seriously.”

He did discuss Barbara Lagoa and Amy Coney Barrett by name when asked about the women.

On Lagoa Trump said, “She’s excellent. She’s Hispanic. She’s a terrific woman from everything I know… I don’t know her. Florida. We love Florida.” When asked whether politics is a consideration, Trump said he thinks “less so than the person themselves.”

Trump was also asked about Ginsburg’s dying wish in which she told her granddaughter that she doesn’t want to be replaced until a new president is elected. Trump then claimed that he thinks that statement could have been written by Schiff, Schumer and Pelosi.

“I don’t know that she said that or was that written out by Adam Schiff and Schumer and Pelosi? I would be more inclined by the second… That came out of the wind. Maybe she did or maybe she didn’t. Look the bottom line is we won the election. We have an obligation to do what’s right and act as quickly as possible. We should act quickly because we’re gonna have probably election things involved here because of the fake ballots that they’ll be sending out,” Trump said.

On timing for a vote on his nominee, Trump said he would prefer a vote before the election but said either way, he has a “lot of time.”

“Don’t forget we were put in this position by voters and we have a lot of time. It’s not like we have two days. We have a lot of time as this goes. Whether it’s before or after… I think it should go before. Whether it’s before or after — I mean after we have a lot of time,” Trump said of a vote.

A Biden campaign aide says that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris and their staff have been in contact with Democratic leadership in the Senate and the House about the Supreme Court vacancy following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, adding that congressional Democrats and the campaign will be “regularly coordinating.”

The aide says that they are aligned on the message on the need to protect the Affordable Care Act.

President Trump spent the weekend preparing to make one of the biggest decisions of his presidency: naming a successor to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As he traveled to North Carolina Saturday and visited the golf course Sunday, Trump was essentially on the phone the entire weekend, two sources said, as he fielded advice and floated potential nominees. In those calls, he’s made one thing clear: he wants to move fast.

Where things stand: Trump had several conversations with lawmakers and spoke with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell multiple times as he made clear his desire to have a confirmation vote on his nominee before the Nov. 3 election. As of Sunday, the White House did not appear to have made a final selection but had instead narrowed down its short list to a handful of candidates. 

On CBS Monday, Kayleigh McEnany said Trump will announce his nominee this week and possibly before Wednesday.

Possible nominees: Amy Coney Barrett has remained the favorite because she is seen as the safest choice in a situation where there is little room for error. A source familiar with the process told CNN Trump was leaning toward Barrett and McConnell, who wants a smooth process, has made his preference for her obvious. The White House is trying to keep the circle tight when it comes to the selection process, but Trump has also received a flood of calls with outside advice on which candidate to select, making that effort difficult at best. 

After Ginsburg died Friday, President Trump initially expressed interest in Barbara Lagoa, a Cuban American judge he had only spoken to once before. Trump’s allies advocated for the Miami-born judge, arguing her hometown could give them a campaign edge. 

Though a source familiar with the process said Lagoa was vetted for the appeals court and the High Court, there was an effort to find out more about her this weekend. Lagoa is not well known in typical judicial circles in Washington that can be tight knit. One point of potential issue that was discussed this weekend was how Lagoa recently joined the majority in a ruling over felons’ rights when the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a requirement for fines to be paid before felons regain the right to vote. 

Trump’s initial excitement for Lagoa seemed to fade away as the weekend wore on. 

Chief of staff Mark Meadows, who is leading the process alongside White House counsel Pat Cipollone, is said to have favored Allison Jones Rushing during discussions, though at 38, her young age has been a concern. Cipollone’s deputy Kate Todd is also on the shortlist and has admirers inside the White House, but she is not viewed as a finalist, an official said. 

The White House has not made an ultimate decision about when to announce the nominee. Tuesday was discussed as a potential option, but there were concerns it would step on ceremonies honoring the life of Justice Ginsburg.

Watch:

President Trump said earlier this morning that he will likely announce his Supreme Court pick on Friday or Saturday, and that he has narrowed his list of potential nominees down to four or five people.  

He added later: “I’m looking at five, probably four, but I’m l’m looking at five very seriously. I’m going to make a decision either on Friday or Saturday, I will announce it either Friday or Saturday.”

Read about the notable names on Trump’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees here.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Sunday that he won’t release a list of potential Supreme Court nominees before the November election, as pressure mounts over the vacancy left in the wake of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on Friday.

The former vice president has committed to nominating a Black woman to the bench, but has not gone any further publicly. President Trump, who vowed to nominate a woman hours after Ginsburg’s death, had previously named more than 20 potential nominees. Speaking in Philadelphia, Biden outlined three reasons why he won’t release his roster, despite pushes from Republicans to do so.

He continued: “And thirdly and finally, perhaps most importantly, if I win, I’ll make my choice for the Supreme Court not based on a partisan election campaign, but on what prior presidents have done … only after consulting Democrats and Republicans in the United States Senate and seeking their advice and asking for their consent.”

Prior to Ginsburg’s death Friday, Biden said that he did not intend to provide his list of potential nominees ahead of the election.

Biden reiterated during his remarks in Philadelphia that if elected and given the opportunity to appoint someone to the high court, he would nominate a Black woman — a move that would make history.

Read more here.