>> brennan >> brennan: for the democratic perspective on the notion, we go to new jersey senator cory booker who joins us from his home in newark. good morning to you, senator. >> good morning. good morning. >> brennan: i'm hoping you can hear me okay. as we laid out earlier, justice ginsburg's dying wish was that it would be the next president who would nominate her successor. as you heard from their republican colleague, they're chaging ahead despite that. is there anything democrats can do to stop the nomination? >> well, first of all, i can only imagine that justice ginsburg understood that the legitimacy of the supreme court at the time that other institutions in our democracy have been losing legitimacy have been under attack. i think she believed tat the legitimacy of the court was so pronounce profoundly

important. there is so much at stake, from civil rights to voting rights to health care in and of itself. these decisions that the supreme court makes, it is important they have the force of law. so for republicans to move forward like this, i think, really underminds that. it will have a tremendous amount of control now, so i'm not sure exactly how this will play out. again, we've seen moments like this before, where health care was in the ballots. and the american public, speaking out, got people like john mccain and a couple colleagues to do the right thing. >> brennan: you're appealing from morality, but tactically speaking, is there anything democrats can do? you have this funding deadline coming up, can you use that leverage? >> again, i think there will be a lot that will play out over the coming days. two things are of great

import: one is to appeal to a moral aspect. it is pretty significant in terms of their own honor and legitimacy. and in addition to that, the election has already begun. if there is any more convincing that the public needs about what is at stake, we see some of the most fundamental ideals of our nation that have been settled, in many ways. the right for a woman to control her body, the basic understanding of civil rights law, and all of that now is in the balance. i think this should motivate people significantly to speak up, let their voices be heard, and be involved in this process. >> brennan: back in 2016, when garland was nominated by president obama, a democratic president, when democrats were in the minority, you said that the senate has no excuse to ignore, blockade or stonewall consideration of this nominee.

why a different standard now? >> well, fir o first of all, 269 days before an election, i felt very clearly that president obama should have been able to name a nominee and we should be taking it up in the senate. and have people meet with that nominee. it is unfortunate that that did not happen. i think that greatly undermined a sense of what was right. now voting as already started. and we had, literally, my colleague speaking to what the rules should be, what the guiding principles were they were operating on. for them to now so severely violate their own words does, i think, a tremendous amount of damages to the legitimacy of the court. we've got to start stepping back and having our larger view of history. it is not just the hotly contested issues of civil rights and women's rights and lgbtq rights, all that is really in the balance here, but also the long-term strength of our democracy

and the institutions that are so critical to our success as a nation. is one top back and take a beat and understand what we're doing and the consequences and how they could radiate throughout time. >> brennan: so what i hear you saying what is different is voting is already under way. with that in mind, joe biden has repeatedly said he intends to nominate a black woman to the supreme court. if you're asking people to come out and vote on their considerations and concern about the supreme court, wouldn't it help if he released his nominees? is that something you think he should do? >> again, i think what donald trump started as an appeal the a far-right base, really a list from the federal society and heritage foundation, that really broke with tradition. i think the president needs to evaluate it when he is the president and makes his decision. and what vice president biden decides to do now is secondary to the urgency of this election. and all of those who value

their health care and understand these are issues that will be played out by the supreme court and the senate, issues from climate change to voting rights -- all of this is on the balance. all of that should be the motivating factor, not necessarily what names vice president biden may or may not decide to do. what is important is the urgency of this election to a lot of the fundamental issues that affect our daily lives. >> brennan: i admire your focus for keeping going, despite that horn there in the background in newark. senator, the democratic leader, chuck schumer, says nothing is off the table if republicans go through with this. the progressives in your party, some are pushing to pack the court, to add more justices to the supreme court. do you support expanding it? >> look, there is a double presumption in there that i just do not want people to lose focus on. number one, you can -- >> brennan: it is openly called for by some in your

party. >> i understand that, but let me tell you what this united states senator is openly calling for: number one, letting your voices be heard to appeal to the decency and honor of people who spoke what this process should be. and number two, is this election. unless we win the senate back, unless we win the white house, all of these questions are hypothetical and moot. we need to focus on what is at hand. we have already begun voting in a number of united states. early ballots are going out across this country. we need to win this election. everything is on the line. and that should be, in my opinion, the focus right now. >> brennan: all right. senator booker, thank you very much for your time and your reflections this morning. we will be right back.

>> brennan: we're facing new, grim milestones in the covid pandemic. there have been 6.8 million

cases. worldwide, cases stand at just short of 31 million, and the number of deaths is approaching one million. cbs news national correspondent mark strassmann is in atlanta. >> can you believe after six months, margaret, we're sitting here together? >> keep your distance, it's the new american way. >> howdy, folks! >> reporter: and the texas state fair. weiry, despite months of rosy reassurances. >> president trump: one day, like a miracle, it will disappear. >> reporter: but in america's covid chronicle, family stories are not going away. you can track covid's impact on the presidential race. take florida and texas, big players on the electoral map that mr. trump won in 2016, run by republican governors and now former cov, ing bed wite virus. according to our battleground tracker, so is

president trump. >> the number of active cases of covid in the state o texas has been cut to more than half since july. >> reporter: just like former vice president' vice president biden's lead. during the same timeframe in texas, president trump's lead grew from one point to two. as goes the virus, it seems, so goes the race. early voters have started heading to the polls or have already voted by mail. in all, seven states have begun accepting in-person voting. two more will follow suit in the next week. and 23 states have started accepting mail-in ballots. >> without the long lines and without the long wait, and you can make sure your vote is already in. >> reporter: in many states, voters who want an early ballot have to give a good reason. in a handful of states, listing the pandemic is not

considered a valid reason. big surprise: the issue is now in the courts. covid america is a tough place to find consensus. margaret? >> brennan: mark, thanks. for a look at the covid-19 situation around the world, we want to go to cbs news senior correspondent elizabeth palmer in london. >> reporter: good morning. the u.s. has the largest number of coronavirus deaths worldwide, about 20% of the total. and then comes indiana, with another 10%, or just under 100,000. and the bad news is the infection rate in indiana is skyrocketing, powered by a lethal combination of overcrowding and poverty. while indiana struggles with its first wave, israel confronted its second with another national lockdown. facing a serious surge, police set up roadblocks on the eve of the jewish new year to enforce travel

restrictions, and normally crowded beaches are di deserted. this week prime minister bortion johnson set new limits on social gatherings in the u.k.. >> indoor, maximum, and six outdoors, maximum. >> reporter: in spain, the situation is critical. from under 300 new cases a day in june, the number had soared yesterday to more than 10,000 and counting. covid is surging in france, too, but not in the tour de france. incredibly in three weeks, scenes like this, and not a single rider has tested positive for covid. and today the youngest rider in more than a century, 21-year-old tade pagatchar, is set to win the race. finally in two wan taiwan,

a, you might say, desperate response. they chartered a flight, admired it out the window, and then headed home. here in the u.k., though, the infection rate is rising. the death rate so far has remained low, although in an ominous sign, margaret, one of the huge covid emergency hospitals that had been mothballed this summer has reopened. >> brennan: thank you. we want to turn for perspective from dr. scott gottlieb, who joins us from westport, connecticut. good morning. >> good morning. >> brennan: president trump said at his rally that the country is rounding the turn even without a vaccine. is that true? >> doctor: i think we have at least one more cycle with this virus heading into fa wter.if you lhat is an

unmistakable spike. i would expect them to start going up again as well. there are about 15 states with a positivity rate with 10% or higher. and there is about 30 states where the r.t., the rate of transfer, is above one, meaning they have an expanding epidemic. whether or not that is a post-labor day bump and will start to level off, or this is the beginning of a resurgence heading into the fall and winter is unclear. i'm deeply concerned as we head into the fall and winter, this is a season where a coronavirus pathogen starts to spread. >> brennan: is there any similarity in terms of the concentrations that you're talking about? is it still the midwest that has you most concerned? >> doctor: right now we're seeing infections go up around the company. the northeast is still holding on to the gains it achieved in driving down

infections, but you're seeing a concentration of new infections in the midwest. it is getting more distributed around the country. the concern is as we get a little more complacent because we are exhausted as a population, we head back to school and college, and people try to go back to work, against the backdrop of the fall and winter, when people are heading indoors because the weather is cooling, that is a real setup for risk. there hasn't been enough people exposed to the virus that we have enough immunity. it may slow it in certain parts of the country where there has been an epidemic, like miami or houston or new york. when you look at what is happening in arizona, you're starting to see cases go back up there, and that place was very hard hit. it is an indication there is a lot of virus left to go in this country. >> brennan: president trump said this week you could have enough of a supply of a vaccine by

april. he had tussled with the c.d.c. director when the c.d.c. said we would have to wait until perhaps the third quarter of 2021 before getting a vaccine available to the american public. who is right? >> doctor: well, i'm on the board of pfizer, which is one of the companies that has a vaccine development, sohavi i have some insight. i think it is possible you'll have enough doses available by april and may. but i do not believe that a vaccine will be licensed for general use by the population until really the second quarter, probably the end of the second quarter in 2021, and perhaps a little later than that. the reality is as we come out of the winter and head into the spring, hopefully this virus will start to dissipate in the summer. so you want a vaccine available for mass inoculation before you head into the fall of 2021. hopefully in a good scenario, if you have the

vaccine available in june or august isn't going to make that much of a difference because the virus won't be transferring as readily by then. but i do not believe we'll have a vaccine available for general inoculation until probably the end of the second quarter of 2021. that said, i think we can have a vaccine available sooner than that for groups that are at particular high risk. but that would be on a limited basis. >> brennan: you said at the f.d.a., the agency you used to run, you trust the scientists will put science first in their priority when it comes to okaying the safety of a vaccine. is there any scenario where the president could override, legally override, the f.d.a. and greenlit greenlight a vaccine? >> doctor: i don't see it. and i don't see a scenario where this could happen and people don't see it. it is not like posting city

guidelines in the middle of the night. in order to issue an emergency-use authorization, the only people capable of drafting that package are the people at f.d.a. and they're not going to be forced to do it unless they scientifically believe in it. i know the career professionals who are engaged in this process, and they're not going to be easily cowed. and you also need a manufacturer that is willing to commercial lies a vaccine based on that authorization or approval. i do not believe any manufacturer is going to commercial lieize a vaccine based on an approval that doesn't have the agreement and involvement of the career professionals inside the f.d.a. i just don't see that happening. this is not something easily subject to outside influence. congress set the process up this way because they wanted an objective process. >> bennan: i hear what you're saying, but i want to ask you about an article in the "new york times" that,

again, asks yet another question about the independence of our health agencies. the times is reporting that the health and human services secretary, alex azar, signed including the f.d.a. from signing new rules, including vaccines. the times reports when you were running the f.d.a., you actually tried to stop this kind of power grab. it happened. what's the political implication? what's the reality now? >> doctor: this is unfortunate because i think it sends exactly the wrong message at a time we want to reaffirm the independence of these agencies. this does create an implication, or at least a spector, that the independence of that agencyeingn influenced. that is not the practical affect in terms of what this will do to the covid response. this is a major dos is basically say that only the secretary can codify rules. if he is asserting that right now, that could call into question all of the

rules that were implemented where lower-level people were delegatrity to sn thosees. in fact, on my second to recodified the tobacco regulation because i was concerned they could take this kind of step and use it as a basis to call into legitimacy the codification of that rule. so i recodified that rule. so i think this is the wrong move at the wrong time, at a time they should be reaffirming the independence of these agencies. to do this now just makes no sense. >> brennan: does it just mean more potential lawsuits? what is the implication of it? >> doctor: i think what is going to happen now, conservative groups -- there is actually litigation around the tobacco rule, where a group was alleging that that rule was inappropriately implemente implemented, and this has been something that conservative groups, frankly, have been after for a while. they want to elevate the

authority to implement regulations. i think the basis for why the secretary did this -- that potentially could create another avenue to have legal challenges. it is a distraction when they should be focused on the covid response. i don't believe in the underlying basis of what they did, and i did oppose it while i was at the agency, but the timing of this is really poor because it is going to distract the agency and frankly creates headlines that could lead to the perception that the agency is being bullied. >> brennan: thank you very much for putting that into perspective and for sharing your insights, dr. gottlieb. we're going to have to leave it there, and we'll be right back. it was just a get together with friends. no big deal.

everybody felt fine. but now im super sick. everyone is sick. i just wish we had been more careful. it would have been easier than this. so wear a mask. do what you can outside. stay six feet apart. because some things you just can't take back. do your part to lower the risk.

we love our new home. there's so much space. we have a guestroom now. but, we have aunts. you're slouching again, ted. expired, expired... expired. thanks, aunt bonnie. it's a lot of house. i hope you can keep it clean. at least geico makes bundling our home and car insurance easy. which helps us save a lot of money oh, teddy. did you get my friend request? uh, i'll have to check. (doorbell ringing) aunt joni's here! for bundling made easy, go to geico.com. hello?

>> brennan: finally today, a look back at the life and the legacy of justice ruth bader ginsburg. ruth bader ginsburg was a civil rights icon, who devoted her career to fighting for gender-equality. >> it is heartbreaking to lose such a strong female individual who has really fought for the rights of all people. >> brennan: at nearly every stage, ginsburg faced discrimination. >> not a law firm in the entire city of new york bid for my employment as a lawyer, when i earned my degree. >> brennan: despite graduating top of her columbia law class, as

ginsburg later explained, the fact that she was a mother was seen as a grave impediment. e begastudying discrimination, volunteered in the 1970s at the aclu and began breaking barriers. she helped persuade the supreme court to rule for the first time that gender-based discrimination violates the constitution, and she illustrated that it cuts both ways by selecting cases in which the laws disadvantaged men. in 1993, she was confirmed to the court herself and became notorious for her stinging dissents, often in support of feminist causes, like this one in lily ledbetter versus goodyear case. >> the court does not comprehend or is indifferent to the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discriminations. >> brennan: her opinion led congress to change the law, easing time restrictions on filing

discrimination suits. during her 27 years as a justice, she became a celebrity. >> they call he notorious r.b i'm working out wn 85-year-old woman and i'm cramping. >> brennan: was her advocacy that. >> people asked me, when will youe satisfied with women e court?when there are nine. >> i was lisimagreeing with a e and an absutely captivating way. >> i think we shove itt point. >> we agr a who of stuff.lly bad only on the knerk stuff. >> brennan: her legacy of stal of equality is being celebrated. >> i see the cnstitution as strivie perfect union. >> bre back. ll your doctor or symptoms or if you ha pl.

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