Ruth Bader Ginsburg death - latest: Democrats smash donation records following death of liberal Supreme Court judge
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Your support makes all the difference.US supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a diminutive yet towering women's rights champion who became known as the Notorious RBG, has died aged 87.
The court's second female justice died from complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer, though she made few concessions to age and recurrent health problems in her latter years.
In her final years on the court, Ms Ginsburg was the unquestioned leader of the liberal justices, as outspoken in dissent as she was cautious in earlier years.
Following news of her death, political leaders in the US and across the world paid tribute to the iconic judge.
We’re wrapping up our dedicated coverage of the fallout following Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death. But we’re got much more on Ginsburg and the political ramifications of her passing on our dedicated US politics live blog, which you can find here.
Obama says democracy at risk if Republicans try to fill Ginsburg Supreme Court vacancy before election
Former president Barack Obama has called on the Senate not to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
In a statement, he urged Republican senators to abide by the principle that “they invented” in 2016 when they refused to hold a hearing for the nomination of Merrick Garland before a new president was sworn in, and warned that democracy was at risk should they push ahead.
“A basic principle of the law — and of everyday fairness — is that we apply rules with consistency, and not based on what’s convenient or advantageous in the moment. The rule of law, the legitimacy of our courts, the fundamental workings of our democracy all depend on that basic principle,” the former president wrote.
Read more:
Obama says democracy at risk if Republicans try to fill Supreme Court vacancy before election
Former president says same standard should apply as in 2016
Democrats smash donation records following death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Democratic donors smashed records on Friday night following the news of the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Online donation processing site ActBlue reports that in the 9pm hour after the news broke, donors gave $6.2m — more than in any single hour since the launch of the site in 2004.
That record was toppled in the 10pm hour when donors gave another $6.3m. For two hours, more than $100,000 per minute was being donated to Democratic causes.
Read more:
Democrat donations surge hours after RBG's death
For two hours, more than $100,000 per minute was being donated to Democratic causes
New York governor Andrew Cuomo has announced Ruth Bader Ginsberg will be honoured with a statue of her erected in Brooklyn, her place of birth.
Majority of Americans trust Biden over Trump to choose the next Supreme Court justice
Just before news broke that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died, new polls were released that showed a majority of Americans in battleground states trusted Joe Biden over Donald Trump to choose the next nominee to the nation's highest court.
National polls have consistently shown Americans trusting the former vice president over the Republican incumbent to choose the next Supreme Court justice, an issue that stands to greatly reshape the entire 2020 presidential election in its final six weeks following the death of the 87-year-old judge.
The New York Times / Siena polls released on Friday surveyed key states including Arizona, Maine and North Carolina about which candidate voters trusted more to nominate the next Supreme Court justice.
Read more:
Majority of US trust Biden over Trump to choose next Supreme Court justice
Republicans vow to reject Supreme Court justice’s ‘dying wish’ as polls show Americans trust Joe Biden over Donald Trump to select her replacement
Video of Lindsey Graham insisting Supreme Court vacancies should never be filled in election years goes viral
Lindsey Graham, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is under pressure to reject any Supreme Court nominee put forward by Donald Trump to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg – as he himself has repeatedly promised to do.
The South Carolina senator, who is currently fighting his most competitive Democratic challenger since he was elected to the chamber in 2002, has previously voted for nominees put forward by presidents of both parties.
However, in 2016, he joined the Republican boycott of Merrick Garland, the man Barack Obama nominated to replace Antonin Scalia. The Republican senate leadership justified their refusal to take up the nomination on the basis that in an election year, it should be for the next president to decide who to pick.
Read more:
Lindsey Graham repeatedly insisted that Supreme Court vacancies shouldn't be filled in election years
South Carolina senator has repeatedly promised not to take up Supreme Court nominees in a president’s last year, including since Donald Trump became president
Trump says he has 'obligation' to nominate Supreme Court judge 'without delay'
Donald Trump has suggested he will announce a nomination for the Supreme Court in the wake of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death “without delay” despite the judge’s dying wish that her replacement would not be selected “until a new president is installed”.
Tagging the official account of the Republican Party in a Saturday morning post, the president wrote on Twitter: “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.“
He added: “We have this obligation, without delay!”
Trump says he has 'obligation' to nominate Supreme Court judge 'without delay'
President suggests he will soon announce a nomination for the Supreme Court: ‘We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us’
Donald Trump has tweeted for the first time on Saturday. He says nominating judge’s to the Supreme Court is the “most important” decision he can make as president, and intends to push through with it before the election.
CNN has provided a useful video exploring Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life and legacy.
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