Trump news: Obama warns democracy at risk as president pushes to nominate right-wing justice before election

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Supreme Court judge dies aged 87

Barack Obama has warned US democracy is at risk if Republicans press ahead with plans to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Her death just over six weeks before US election day is likely to trigger a fierce battle over whether President Donald Trump should nominate her replacement at the highest court in America, or if the seat should remain vacant until the result of the race in November against Democratic challenger Joe Biden is known.

In a statement, Mr Obama said: “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.” 

Democrats are still seething over the Republican Senate's refusal to act on Mr Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, in 2016 after conservative Justice Antonin Scalia died 10 months before that election. 

Mr McConnell in 2016 said the Senate should not act on a court nominee during an election year, a stance he has since reversed.

Despite that anger, Democrats have little chance of blocking Mr Trump's pick. His fellow Republicans control 53 of the Senate's 100 seats and Mr McConnell, who has made confirmation of Mr Trump's federal judicial nominees a top priority, said the chamber would vote on any Trump nominee.

Even before justice Ginsburg's death, Mr Trump had made public a list of potential nominees.

Conservative activists for years have sought to get enough votes on the Supreme Court to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. During the 2016 campaign, Mr Trump promised to appoint justices who would overturn that decision. But the court in July, even with its conservative majority, struck down a restrictive Louisiana abortion law on a 5-4 vote.

The two justices already appointed by Mr Trump were Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. Kavanaugh's confirmation process was particularly heated, as he faced accusations by a California university professor, Christine Blasey Ford, that he had sexually assaulted her in 1982 when the two were high school students in Maryland. Justice Kavanaugh angrily denied those accusations and was narrowly confirmed.

Republicans risk the possibility of liberals embracing more radical proposals should Mr Trump replace justice Ginsburg but Democrats win November's election, with some activists on the left suggesting even before her death that the number of justices on the court should be expanded to counter Trump's appointees.

Confirmation votes could also put more pressure on incumbent Republican senators in highly competitive election races, including Maine's Susan Collins and Arizona's Martha McSally, at a time when Democrats are eying a chance to win control of that chamber. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also could play a pivotal role.

Many court-watchers expect Mr Trump to attempt to replace Ms Ginsburg with a woman. One possible contender on Trump's list is Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative judge on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who was under consideration in 2018 before Mr Trump picked justice Kavanaugh.

Additional reporting by Reuters. Check out The Independent’s live updates and coverage below:

Key Points

• Obama cautions ‘fundamental workings’ of democracy at risk in Supreme Court row
• Trump says he will move forward with Supreme Court nominee ‘without delay’
• Ginsberg’s final ‘fervent wish’ before dying made public
• US president pays tribute to Ginsberg

[19 September 2020 21:15 · Chris Riotta]

 Majority of Americans say Trump should not replace RBG before Inauguration Day

A new YouGov poll shows the majority of Americans reject the president’s goal to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before a new president can be decided upon in the November election:

[19 September 2020 21:00 · Chris Riotta]

A look at the senators who might block Trump’s nomination

Republican leaders came forcefully following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to urge their senate colleagues to toe the party line and demand the vacancy is filled before the November election.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent a letter to Republicans on Friday telling them to “keep your powder dry” and avoid falling under pressure to announce their stance on whether the open seat on the nation’s highest court should be filled just six weeks ahead of election day.

“Over the coming days, we are all going to come under tremendous pressure from the press to announce how we will handle the coming nomination,” the senate majority leader wrote to his colleagues. “For those of you who are unsure how to answer, or for those inclined to oppose giving a nominee a vote, I urge you all to keep your powder dry. This is not the time to prematurely lock yourselves into a position you may later regret.”

The senate leader appears to be keen to get ahead of any potential rebel Republicans who might opt to vote against confirming a justice before November.  The Republican-led senate would require just 51 votes in order to successfully confirm the next Supreme Court justice after its voting procedures were changed to allow for a simple majority in 2017.

Numerous Republicans on Capitol Hill have spoken out against filling a vacant seat on the Supreme Court during an election year prior to Ms Ginsburg’s death.

[19 September 2020 20:46 · Chris Riotta]

This concludes today’s live coverage from The Independent. Thanks for tuning in.

[19 September 2020 20:30 · Chris Riotta]

Package addressed to Donald Trump containing poison ricin intercepted by law enforcement: report 

Oliver O’Connell writes: A package addressed to president Donald Trump containing the poison ricin has been intercepted, according a report.

Two law enforcement officials told CNN that tests confirmed the presence of the poison. 

Mail addressed to the White House is sorted and screened offsite. 

The FBI and Secret Service are investigating the matter.

[19 September 2020 20:00 · Chris Riotta]

Democrats smash donation records following death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Oliver O’Connell writes: 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.

[19 September 2020 19:30 · Chris Riotta]

Ruth Bader Ginsburg death sets up vicious political fight to decide whether Supreme Court leans right for decades

John Bennett writes: The death of liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg will immediately upend the presidential election and will amplify partisan tensions in the already contentious United States Senate as Republicans prepare to jam through her replacement before the end of this year.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked then-President Barack Obama from filling a high court seat during his final year in office following the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. The Kentucky Republican has put up with Mr Trump’s antics since he took office largely because the president has been more than willing to nominate McConnell-preferred conservative federal judges. 

Now, the duo have a chance to give the Supreme Court a 6-3 conservative lean for years to com Mr McConnell made his intentions clear last May when he was asked about a vacant seat in the final year of Mr Trump’s term.

[19 September 2020 19:00 · Chris Riotta]

Breaking: Coronavirus death toll tops 200,000 in the US

Oliver O’Connell writes: The total number of deaths in the US from the coronavirus pandemic has hit 200,000.

There have now been 6,760,654 confirmed cases of Covid-19 across the country since the virus was first identified. 

The grim milestone was reached on Saturday morning according to data collated by NBC News. According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, a surge in new infections in the autumn and winter could result in a total of 415,000 American deaths by January.

[19 September 2020 18:30 · Chris Riotta]

ICYMI: McConnell urges Republicans to ‘keep your powder dry’

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent a letter to Republicans on Friday telling them to “keep your powder dry” and avoid falling under pressure to announce their stance on whether the open seat on the nation’s highest court should be filled just six weeks ahead of Election Day.

“Over the coming days, we are all going to come under tremendous pressure from the press to announce how we will handle the coming nomination,” the senate majority leader wrote to his colleagues. “For those of you who are unsure how to answer, or for those inclined to oppose giving a nominee a vote, I urge you all to keep your powder dry. This is not the time to prematurely lock yourselves into a position you may later regret.”

However, numerous Republicans on Capitol Hill have spoken out against filling a vacant seat on the Supreme Court during an election year prior to Ms Ginsburg’s death. 

[19 September 2020 18:00 · Chris Riotta]

What is the “Biden rule” Republican senators are using to justify their position on replacing RBG?

Some Republicans have alleged there were discrepancies between 2016 and now that would allow them to vote on a nominee put forth by Donald Trump this close to an election.

They said the tradition not to hold confirmation hearings for a Supreme Court justice stemmed from a 1992 speech by then-senator Joe Biden, in which he said the president should wait until after the election to nominate a justice since he was a Republican incumbent with a Democratic-led senate.

However, Mr Biden also suggested in that speech that the president should nominate a moderate justice if he chose to move forward with the confirmation process that would be acceptable to the Democratic senate.

Senator Chuck Grassley suggested he would not vote for a nominee ahead of an election, saying in July: “I'm just following what was established by the Biden Rule in 1986 and then emphasized by him in 1992... They set the pattern. I didn't set the pattern. But it was very legitimate that you can't have one rule for Democratic presidents and another rule for Republican presidents."

[19 September 2020 17:26 · Chris Riotta]

Republicans past comments on filling vacant Supreme Court seats come back to haunt them

Senator Lindsey Graham rejected the idea in 2018, saying at the time: “If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump's term, and the primary process has started, we'll wait to the next election. And I've got a pretty good chance of being the Judiciary [Chairman]. Hold the tape." 

And as recently as September, Senator Lisa Murkowski said she would not vote for Ms Ginsburg’s replacement ahead of an election, saying: “Fair if Fair.”

Senator Susan Collins reportedly said just this month that she would not vote for a Supreme Court nominee in October, telling the New York Times: “I think that’s too close, I really do.”

The Republican-led senate would require just 51 votes in order to successfully confirm the next Supreme Court justice after its voting procedures were changed to allow for a simple majority in 2017.

Story to come…