Tag: Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Democrats break fundraising records after Ginsburg’s death

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The most prolific online fundraising platform for Democratic candidates and causes said Sunday morning that donors had contributed more than $91 million in the 28 hours after the Supreme Court announced that Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died.

ActBlue said Ginsburg’s death had led to an unprecedented surge of donations to progressive groups. Donors gave $6.3 million in just one hour late Friday and $70.6 million on Saturday, the platform said, both records for their respective time periods.

The previous daily record was nearly $42 million. The previous hourly record was a little more than $4 million. Continue reading.

How Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death could jeopardize the Affordable Care Act

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The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg injects fresh uncertainty into the future of the Affordable Care Act, as the Supreme Court prepares to consider anew the constitutionality of the law that has reshaped the United States’ health-care system in the past decade.

As the senior member of the court’s liberal bloc, Ginsburg was a reliable vote to uphold the ACA in the past and had been expected to do so when the high court reviews the law a third time in its coming term. The sudden shift in the court’s composition provides the latest lawsuit seeking to get rid of the health-care law a greater opportunity, though not a certain victory, while mobilizing Democratic and swing voters focused on the issue in the upcoming elections, according to legal scholars and political analysts.

“Ginsburg’s death is the nightmare scenario for the Affordable Care Act,” said Nicholas Bagley, a University of Michigan law professor who supports the law. “If the suit had a trivial chance of success yesterday, it has a new lease on life.” Continue reading.

Momentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day

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Momentum is growing among Senate Republicans for a Supreme Court confirmation vote to take place before Election Day, something that GOP strategists say would rev up conservative voters and deliver a huge accomplishment for President Trump before voters go to the polls.

As of Saturday afternoon, Senate Republicans had yet to have a conferencewide call on the vacancy created by the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but already a number of GOP lawmakers are publicly and privately making the case for a vote before Nov. 3 instead of in the lame-duck session.

“The logistics are getting it done before the election are very difficult. That is very fast. But it’s not unusually fast. [Late Justice] John Paul Stevens was confirmed in 19 days, and anyone picked is going to be recently voted on,” said a senior Senate Republican aide, who predicted that Trump would chose a conservative appellate court judge. Continue reading.

Shadow of Merrick Garland Hangs Over the Next Supreme Court Fight

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The fight over the confirmation of Judge Garland in 2016 set the tone for an even more brutal battle over who should succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

WASHINGTON — On a Saturday evening in February 2016, just hours after Justice Antonin Scalia died during a hunting trip, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican majority leader, interrupted a Caribbean vacation to draw a line in the sand.

“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice,” he said. “Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”

At that very moment, Mr. McConnell changed the course of the court and every future confirmation battle to come. By the time President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick B. Garland — a mild-mannered jurist with impeccable credentials, a moderate record and fans across the ideological spectrum — the Washington apparatus that gears up around Supreme Court nominations no longer felt quite the same. Continue reading.

Collins: President elected Nov. 3 should fill Supreme Court vacancy

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Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a key centrist vote in the Senate, said Saturday that the upper chamber should not vote to confirm late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s successor before the election and that the nominee should be chosen by whoever wins on Nov. 3. 

“Given the proximity of the presidential election … I do not believe that the Senate should vote on the nominee prior to the election,” Collins said in a statement. “In fairness to the American people, who will either be re-electing the President or selecting a new one, the decision on a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court should be made by the President who is elected on November 3rd.” 

Collins, however, said she would have no objection to the Senate Judiciary Committee beginning the process of reviewing the credentials of the person President Trump is expected to nominate in the next several days. Continue reading.

GOP governor breaks ranks and urges Senate Republicans to hold off on Ginsburg replacement

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On Saturday morning, Gov. Charlie Baker (R-MA) issued a statement on Twitter urging Senate Republicans to hold off on filling Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat until after the November election.

Baker, considered one of the most moderate Republican governors, did not clarify whether he supports waiting until after the new Congress is seated and presidential inauguration takes place, or just after the election itself. However, he made clear he doesn’t want the confirmation to be tainted with “partisan political infighting.”

Continue reading.

The Memo: Court battle explodes across tense election landscape

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A new, incendiary ingredient has been added to the explosive political atmosphere as Election Day looms.

The death on Friday of 87-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sparks an instant and ferocious fight over the Supreme Court. 

Ginsburg was the de facto leader of the court’s four-member liberal bloc and an icon to progressives. Her death clears the way for President Trump to nominate a successor in the final days of his first term. Continue reading.

Trump signals he will move to replace Ginsburg ‘without delay’

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President Trump on Saturday signaled he will quickly move to nominate a replacement for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, setting up an explosive Senate fight just weeks before the election.

“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,” Trump tweeted, tagging the Republican Party. “We have this obligation, without delay!”

The tweet marked the first indication Trump has given since Ginsburg’s death on Friday that he will seek to replace her on the court before Election Day. Continue reading.

How Many Republicans Would Oppose A Lame Duck Supreme Court Nominee?

Remarkably, Sen. Lisa Murkowski told Alaska Public Media on Friday afternoon that she would not confirm a new Supreme Court justice before next year’s inauguration. “Fair is fair,” she said speaking hypothetically before the announcement of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing.

She was talking, of course, about the precedent Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell set for confirming justices before a presidential election when he refused to even consider President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to replace Antonin Scalia. Scalia died a full nine months before that year’s election. McConnell, pulling a Senate procedure out of his ass, said that the Senate could not possibly confirm a nominee before an election, and that the voters should be allowed to have their say on the direction of the court. And clearly, with McConnell being the destroyer of everything good in this world, he will push a nominee—in a total reversal of his previous doctrine.

Saturday, Sep 19, 2020 · 9:33:43 AM PST · Joan McCarter

There were early rumors circulating that Romney was going to be honorable and oppose a vote on a nominee. His spokesman has just declared that “grossly false.” I’m not sure where the “grossly” is to be applied here. Continue reading.

Senate Republicans face tough decision on replacing Ginsburg

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the Senate would vote to confirm a Trump nominee to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a statement released an hour after her death, but it’s unclear whether he can convince a majority of his colleagues to do so.

While several GOP senators on Friday evening were saying that a vote should go forward, some were notably silent on the issue.

McConnell can only afford three defections on what would be one of the most controversial Senate votes in history. Continue reading.