♪ judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, a titan of american law -- the country mourns the passing of supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg as her absence sets up a contentious fight for her replacement. then, a grim milestone. the u.s. approaches two hundred thousand deaths from covid-19. we remember the victims and examine the path forward. plus, fallout, even after withdrawal from the nuclear deal, the trump administration insists on the re-imposition of sanctions against iran despite rejection from other global powers. and it's monday. tamara keith and amy walter break down the impact of justice ginsburg and the latest on the

race for the white house. all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> major funding for t pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> with a world it's complicated, a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, an advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your life. >> consumer cellular. johnson and johnson. financial services firm raymond james. bm sf railway. the william and flora hewlett

foundation, for more than 50 years supporting ideas and institutions for a better world. and, with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: the stakes don't come any higher. the death of justice ruth bader ginsburg has created an opening on the u.s. supreme court just before a presidential election. now, a battle royal begins, and

the outcome could decisively shift the high court to the right. john yang begins our coverage. john: flags flew at half-staff over the white house today to honor the late justice who died friday of metastatic pancreatic cancer. inside, behind closed doors, talks intensified as president trump prepares to nominate a successor. the president said he has narrowed his list of candidates to five, all of them women pres. trump: i think it will be on friday or saturday i will be announcing a pick. five women are being looked at and vented very carefully. we will pick somewhat outstanding and very qualified. they are all qualified. but someone who is outstanding. i would like to see it all take place before the election. john: the president's proposed timing would leave less than 40

days for confirmation hearings and a vote before election day. no supreme court justice has been confirmed that quickly since 1981 when sandra day o'connor was unanimously approved to be the first female justice a little more than a month after president reagan nominated her. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has insisted mr. trump's nominee will get a vote on the senate floor. the senate has more than -- >> the senate has more than sufficient time to process a nomination. history and precedent make that perfectly clear. if my democratic colleagues want to claim that they are outraged , they can only be outraged at the plain facts of american history. this senate will vote on this nomination this year. john: but it's still unclear if there are enough senate republican votes to push a nomination through. the party controls the chamber 53 to 47 . just four republicans breaking ranks would block the president's nominee. already two of them -- susan collins of maine and lisa murkowski of alaska -- have said theyo not support a vote before election day.

democrats slammed the scramble to quickly appoint a replacement as hypocritical. in 2016, mcconnell refused to consider former president obama's nonation of judge merrick garland to replace justice antonin scalia, who died nine months before the election. >> mitch mcconnell believes that this fight is over. what mitch mcconnell does not understand is this fight has just begun. john: yesterday in philadelphia, democratic presideial nominee joe biden said jamming a nomination through the senate would be an "abuse of power" and made a direct appeal to senate republicans. mr. biden: please follow your conscience. don't vote to confirm anyone nominated in the circumstances president trump and senator mcconnell have created. don't go there. uphold your constitutional duty.

the last thing we need is to add a constitutional crisis that plunges us deeper into the abyss, deeper into the darkness. john: biden said that if he wins in november, president trump's nominee should be withdrawn and replaced with his own. outside the supreme court building, a steady stream of mourners paid their respects at a makeift memorial. >> it was because of the work that she's done that i was able to have a good job that allowed me as a single woman to support myself and to choose to have a family, to have reproductive choices that allowed me to delay pregnancy until i was ready for it. and then tchoose to do it on my own, to have the confidence that my job would be ok. >> the fact that we had a supreme court persona who was dedicated to reason and justice and i think balance is something

that is imperative in our judicial system, particularly at thtop. john: inside, black crepe drapes the entrances to the high court's chambers, justice ginsburg's seat, and the bench in front of it. ginsburg will lie in repose at the supreme court wednesday and thursday, placed under the portico at the top of the court's front steps to allow the public foroutdoor public viewing amid the pandemic. on friday, she will lie in state in the capitol's statuary hall before a private burial next week at arlington national cemetery. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. judy: and to explore where we are now and what's next, i'm joined by our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor and capitol hill correspondent lisa desjardins. how does president trump want to

move forward with this and what do we know about who is on the shortlist? yamiche: president trump is eager to fill the supreme court vacancy. he plans to make his nomination announcement as early as saturday. they want that person to be confirmed onto the supreme court before the election. republicans are arguing that there are a number of justices confirmed in the period between now and election day. the late justice ginsburg was confirmed in 42 days. the president said that he has five women on the final list. first, there is judge barbara lagoa, a judge on the federal court of appeals in atlanta,

georgia. while on the bench, she voted in support of a law requiring former felons to pay court fees. next, judge amy barrett, on the court of appeals in the seventh circuit in illinois. she is a devout catholic, prompting tough questions during her nomination in 2017 she was a clerk for the late justice antonin scalia a. next up is joan larsen, a former michigan supreme court justice and michigan law school professor. also a former federal prosecutor. she wants volunteered for the presidential campaigns of joe biden and bob dole. judy: i see that was some years ago. lisa, from the hill perspective,

could they actually get this done before the election? lisa: republican senate leader mitch mcconnell's office is stressing that it is possible to get this done before the election. if you can see this graphic, this very friday is 38 days from the election. a nomination on friday would mean 37 days the senate has. the nominee would have to submit boxes and boxes of documents. with the kavanaugh nomination, there were more than one million pages of occupants. the nominee would likely have to meet with all 53 republican senators and perhaps democrats as well. all that would need to happen within the space of a few weeks. hearings would need to happen.

democrats could call for a one-week delay. democrats could override it. -- publicans could override it. there's just two to three weeks to make a judgment on this nominee. and, where are the votes exactly? john reported on this but let's look at where we are tonight. it does take a majority of the senate to pass a supreme court nominee. so, 50 votes are needed. republicans have 53 votes in the senate. that means they could lose four. two are against a vote right now. were we watching? that of utah, cory gardner of -- mi romney of utah, cory gardner of colorado. chuck of iowa, he said this summer that if he were chairman,

he would not hold any vacancy -- not fill any vacancy. he said a statement could be coming from him tonight. judy: how are you hearing how this effects the election? yamiche: this upends the 2020 election, putting supreme court top of mind for voters. it was already somethi that was going to be top of mind. it really underscores the power of the presidency. he is issuing a new rallying cry. democrats i have talked to are worried that this could depress democrats. but they could also be motivated because if this becomes a 6-3 majority forepublicans. judy:yamiche alcindor, lisa de chardin, thank you both.

and now a view from the senate. to give us a sense of what's next for democrats in their efforts to block a senate confirmation of the president's choice for the court, i'm joined by senator maggie hassan of new hampshire. how do you see the legacy of justice ginsburg? sen hassan: thank you for having me. ruth bader ginsburg was a giant, notnly in the field of law, where she paved the way for so many women who came after her, but in the cases that she chose to take on and the proposition that if people are free to be themselves, it strengthens all of us. i think, for many, she was a role model when it comes to following the profession she loves but also raising a family. judy: when you hear president trump say he will nominata replacement for the end of the court by the end of the week and senate intends to vote, senate

majority leader mitch mcconnell says there will be a vote soon. what is at stake here? sen hassan: it kind of takes your breath away. when they made the decision to block any nominee from president obama after justice scalia died, today they are reversing themselves. we are in the middle of a pandemic and republicans have been attempting in the past couple of years to repeal the affordable care act, takeaway protections for people with pre-existing conditions. now, instead of coming together with democrats and crafting another coronavirus relief package, they are rushg through another nominee to the supreme court because there is a case to the supreme court right

after the election that would repeal the affordable care act and take pre-existing conditions protection. that is the priority for republicans, to install a justice who will take away those protections. judy: when there has been a vacancy in the year of a presidential election and you have had the white house and senate majority of the same political party, the 29 times those nominations have gone forward. they are saying there is storable president. sen hassan: they're coming up with all sorts of arguments to justify. this election is already underway. people are voting already in early voting and lots of our states. the real priority is for us to come together. to pass a continuing resolution toontinue to fund the

government, and continue to address the pandemic. i hope it is disturbing tomorrow -- tomorrow of my republican colleagues. this will be a rush process even if we were not in the middle of a pandemic. to rush this through in contradiction ofhe same stdards for years ago is really breathtaking. judy: i am sure, as you also know, there is inconsistency on the part of the democrats arguments. they argued four years ago that there should be a vote. i am going to quote something that you said when you were running against your predecessor, republican senator kelly ayotte. we are going to lift something now from a debate that you had. sen hassan: the constitution of

the united states says that the president shall nominate a candidate to be a supreme court justice and that the senate shall advise and csent it does not say except in election years, it is not say when the government is divided. it says you do your job. judy: that was from a debate when you are seeking to unseat kelly ayotte, and you argued there should be a vote in an election year. sen hassan: and then the republicans changed the rules. i opposed what they did. they changed the rules. one of the things we have to be able to do in this democracy of ours is hold both parties to the same set of rules. i think it is critically important that the republicans hold themselves to the same standards that failed themselves to four years ago. i think it is important for

predictability iour democracy. but, again, it comes down to, why are they doing this? normally, you would not rush a nominee through this quickly. he would not see a president making a nomination just a week or so after the death of a justice. and there would be serious consideration over the course of weeks and months. so, what i keep being struck by why the rush. come back to the fact that this is a republican senate that has been trying to repeal the affordable care act for a long time and they seem to be in a rush to be sure they can install somebody who is likely to be in favor of doing that. the american people, i think, believe it is reasonable given the circumstances and what the republicans did four ars ago,

to make this nomination after he is inaugurated. i hope that my republican colleagues will follow their conscience. judy: democrats in 2016 and republicans this year are saying the court needs all nine justices to be filled. we are hearing the same arguments from different parties. right now, it looks as though republicans have the votes to get this through, doesn't it? sen hassan: that is certainly one of the things we are hearing. we have not heard from all of our republican colleagues. i will also note that on the question of needing nine justices in case there is a dispute, that the court currently has a 5-3 majority of conservatives. judy: meaning what?

that is still eight justices. yamiche: --sen hassan: that is still eight justices, but it did not concern the republicans four years ago. judy: we will leave it there. senator maggie hassan, thank you. sen hassan: you very much. judy: and for the republican view on the supreme court nomination fight, tomorrow i'll talk to senator john barrasso of wyoming. ♪ >> newshour west. we will return to judy woodruff and the full program after the latest headlines. one of the republican senator's said to be on the fence about whether to go ahead with a trump supreme court nominee has made his position known. senator cory gardner of colorado said he would vote to confirm the qualified nominee.

gardener is locked in a tight reelection bid against the governor of colorado, john hickenlooper. the nation neared a somber milestone in the covid-19 pandemic, 200,000 deaths. new numbers from johns hopkins university also indicatethe global death count is closing in on 1 million. we'll return to this, right after the news summary. some key court rulings in presidential battleground states. wisconsin to count absentee -- a federal judge today allowed wisconsin to count absentee ballots up to 6 days after election day. in nevada, the federal judge this evening dismissed a lawsuit brought by the trump campaign over a new vote by mail law. this means the state can automatically send mail-in ballots to all voters. meanwhile, campaign officials said democrat joe biden and allies began september with $466 million dollars. that is $140 million more than president trump had. a former top deputy to special counsel robert mueller says the

evidence was in the russia investigation that president trump obstructed justice but andrew weissmann says mueller would not make an explicit determination on that charge because he felt mr. trump could not be put on trial while in office. weissmann spoke to "the atlantic", ahead of publishing his insider account. the u.s. justice department threatened today to cut federal funding for new york, seattle, and portland, oregon. it follows president trump's accusing the cities' democratic mayors of allowing anarchy and violence. but in new york today, mayor bill de blasio dismissed the threat. >> this is just another one of president trump's games. it's throughly political, it's part of his campaign strategy. it makes no sense. it's not based on the facts in the least. it's insulting to the people of new york city, and his efffort to withold funding is unconstitutional. >> the justice department says all 3 cities have resied federal intervention to quell

the unrest. prosecutors have declined to charge an arizona state trooper in the fatal shooting of a black man, dion johnson. johnson was killed the same day as george floyd, leading to weeks of protests across phoenix. the evidence showed that johnson fought the trooper, who feared for his life. an attorney representing johnson family argued that a jury should decide that. another tropical storm system is drenching the u.s. gulf coast. tropical storm beta has minimal wins but heavy rain is already made rivers out of roadways in galveston. ultimately, up to 15 inches of rain could fall. on the west coast, dozens of wildfires are still burning. the "bobcat" fire in southern california has doubled in size in a week, fanned by high winds. flames have scorched 165 square miles of los angeles county

hillsides. the 72nd emmy awards are in the books. post jimmy kim stood on stage alone last night, with nominees gone virtual and trophies delivered personally, at home. hbo captured the most awards, led by "succession" and "watchmen". 24-year-old zendaya became the youngest best lead actress for her role in hbo's "euphoria." still to come on the "newshour", the u.s. approaches 200,000 deaths from covid-19, the trump administration insists on the re-imposition of sanctions against iran, plus, tamara keith and amy walter break down the political fight following justice ginsburg's death. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and from the west from the walter

concrete -- walter cronkite school of journalism. judy: as the country approaches yet another tragic marker of the pandemic tonight -- close to 200,000 americans dead from covid and related complications -- we are going to widen our lens to look at how the virus has cut across so many communities in the u.s. and to remember the lives being lost. william brangham begins with what we know about the growing toll. william: the slow beat of bells at the national cathedral in washington, d.c. on sunday. 200 tolls as the nation approached 200,000 american lives lost to the coronavirus. it's a daunting number, one that's hard to fully grasp. it's nearly twice as many americans who've been killed in every major conflict since the korean war combined. so, as the country marks this solemn occasion, we felt it important to take a moment to lay out what the numbers tell us, so far.

it's been 242 days since the first reported case of this novel coronavirus in the united states. since then, there have been nearly 7 million more reported across all 50 states. daily cases have fallen from a peak of more than 70,000 in july 2 under 40,000 today. all told, louisiana, florida, mississippi, alabama and arizona have seen the most cases per capita so far. but over the last week, the dakotas, wisconsin, oklahoma and utah have seen the most cases per capita. new york which suffered the worst outbreak early-on, accounts for more than 16% of all covid deaths, with roughly 33,000. in new york city, one in every 360 residents died. new jersey, california, texas, and florida each have seen at

least 10,000 people die. but the five states with the highest death rates in the last week are arkansas, mississippi, virginia, florida, and north dakota. so far in the u.s., the virus has a nearly 3% case fatality rate. more than 90% of deaths involving covid-19 were people over the age of 55. and more than 40% of deaths occured in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. we also know this virus has taken a disproportionate toll on communities of color in this country. blacks, hispanics, and latinos, and native americans are more than twond a half times more likely to get virus than whites. those same groups are roughly 5 times more likely to be hospitalized. and black americans are twice as likely to die. globally, among these major developed nations, the u.s. has by far the highest number of daily deaths.

it's a number that will likely to continue to grow as we wrestle with our national response to this global tragedy. for the "pbs newshour," i'm william brangham. judy: as we reach this devastating milestone, amna nawaz has more about the people behind the number. amna: over the last six months, we've tried to capture the heartbreaking and staggering loss of life by sharing the names, faces, and stories of just a few of the hundreds of americans who died each week from covid-19. and here they are -- 115 mothers, fathers, teachers, nurses, artists and grandparents from every corner of the country and every walk of life. one was philip kahn. he was 100 years old, but, his family says, as vely as ever. he kept his album of military photos close at hand. >> i stood next to the enola gay but i didn't know it had a bomb

on it. i didn't know i was four feet from the atomic bomb. amna: an air force co-pilot, kahn fought at iwo jima, later taking aerial surveys of the devastation from u.s. atomic bombs. he settled in new york, worked construction on the world trade center, and became a a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. this is lynika strozier. raised by her grandmother, she was diagnosed early with a severe learning disability, but studied nonstop and became a researcher in chicago. she was usually home at a lab or out with friends. she was just 35 years old. according to her wife, spreading love and fighting for justice was a calling for reverend vickey gibbs. her final sermon at her houston church was an impassioned call to action on the pandemic and racial inequality. >> be the bridge to equality by demanding and voting in change.

amna: gibbs had a special bond with her grandson whom she gifted the nickname, boo. reverend gibbs was 57 years old. postal worker jesus collazos took time to greet every neighbor along his mail route in arlington, virginia. he spent over 20 years in the postal service after immigrating from colombia. he and his wife raised two children in a home he first discovered along his route. at 67 years old, he loved to show off his grandchildren on social media, always with the caption "life is good." hatsy yasukochi was thheart of her family-run san francisco bakery. >> i decorate cakes, i answer the phone, and i wait on customers. amna: she lived by the japanese phrase "gaman" -- to persevere -- enduring imprisonment with her family in u.s. internment camps in the 1940s and beating breast cancer as an adult. the 80-year-old grandmother's bakery walls were adorned with family photos and silly snapchats.

dolly raper was one of few fluent cherokee speakers left in the cherokee nation and, according to her family, made the best fry bread in oklahoma. known for her generosity, friends say dolly was always there with a helping hand. she never complained not even when battling breast cance the matriarch of her family, dolly was a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. she was 67 years old when she died. those stories are just a fraction of the roughly 200,000 american lives lost to the pandemic so far. leading to questions about how we got here, and what can be done now, to save the u.s. from hitting another tragic milestone. for that, we turn to dr. georges benjamin, executive director of the american public health association, a professional group for physicians. and, dr. megan ranney, an emergency today the trump -- an emergency physician.

it is such a milestone, a moment for reflection, and people are struggling with how to process it. how are you reflecting on this moment with 200,000 american deaths? >> i first take a mont as you just did to honor all of the lives that have been lost, both those i have personally touched in my emergency department and the hundreds of thousands more across the country. the effect that the holes of these lives lost or creating in their communities. the second thing i do is think about how i got here. and think about what we need to do go forwards to keep the number from dublin, tripling, or quadruple. -- from doubling, tripling, or quadrupling. amna: another staggering

statistic, when you look at the u.s. death toll, the u.s. makes up about 4.2% of the world population but accounts so far for 20% of all covid-19 deaths worldwide. you get your head around that number? >> this is preventable. if you look at the rest of the world, they showed us the roadmap for what we should have done. we tried to minimize our numbers and we have not done that. amna: we noted in the piece before, it is hitting different parts of america very differently depending on where you are, how you live, what you do. this pandemic is either scared every time the phone rings or it seems like a very abstract headline and another part of the country.

when you look at how it is unfolding here, what does that mean, the fact that it is unfolding so differently for different parts of america? is mean that number resonates differently? >> it means each of us had a different experience and we are reacting to that different experience. a plan that we can roll out into the different communities when they need it. that has not yet happened. as we look to the future, we know what we need to do. the pathway is clear, the science is clear, and prevention works. amna: when you look at the leading causes of death in the united states and the projections experts are making for this year, it looks as if covid-19 will be the third leading cause of death in the united states after our disease and cancer.

we have not had a federally led national response. would having all of those things, any of those things, would that have changed where we are today, the fact that many of those countries took the steps? >> absolutely, we would be in a different place today had we had a comprehensive national teing strategy, had we had early activation of the defense production act to get us testing supplies, personal protective equipment, and had we had consistent, clear messagingor the american public about what to do to prevent the spread. with those things put together, we could have had a death toll that was half for a third of we are facing. we are alone among high income countries for having the per capita death rate that we do.

that is not a place we should be in, given our centers for disease control and prevention, given our scientific prowess, given the national institute for health. this is failure of leadership in a national strategy. amna: briefly, what needs to be happened now? what can be done now so the death toll does not get as high as you say it could? >> this is the moment we can look forward and talk about what we can do as a country. we can insist on adequate testing supplies. we can all mask. there is ample evidence that universal mask usage decreases infection rates by 60%-90%. if we all wear masks always when we are out of public, we can stop the spread. we can also insist on improved national data to inform that the

health messaging. unfortunately, the federal government has been behind the curve so far academic institutions, nonprofits such as the one i am part of a man stepped in to fill the gaps on where there are ppe needs, who has been tested, what the positivity rates are, the spread within schools. we can support those efforts and do it on a state and community level now while we also try to move our national strategy forward. amna: dr. benjamin, you heard dr. ranney mentioned that we could see many fold the deaths we have seen so far. are you worried about that? >> i am afraid that we have just had 200 bells rung and we are on the trajectory to have to ring 400 toward the end of the year, early into next year.

i think, again, the point is, wearing a mask, washing your hands of a keeping your distance , not getting around in crowds. if i could add one more thing, get your flu shot. amna: that is a good reminder. dr. georges benjamin and dr. megan ranney, thank you. ♪ judy: today, the trump administration announced additional sanctions on iran, after declaring over the weekend that all un sanctions initially lifted by the iran nuclear deal, had been re-imposed. but that snap-back of un sanctions was rejected by much of the international community.

nick: the administration calls its policy on iran maximum pressure, and today it's trying to increase that pressure, but it's also increased a showdown with european allies. an executive order imposes sanctions on iran if it sells weapons, and on anyone selling weapons to iran. the departments of state, treasury, and commerce sanctioned iranians affiliated with iran's nuclear and missile industries. that followed what the u.s. calls the snapback of un sanctions over the weekend. these were the sanctions lifted by the signing of the 2015 iran nuclear deal. the u.s. says un sanctions are now reimposed on iranian weapons sales, ballistic missile tests, and enrichment. but the other members of the security council, and the other signatories of the iran nuclear deal, say the u.s. does not have the legal authority to do so, because the left of the iran nuclear deal. to talk about joined by elliot all of this, i abrams, recently am named as the state department's special representative for iran.

welcome back. it is not ust the europeans, chinese, russians. the u.n. sectary general has written a letter saying that he does not recognize the sanctions have snapped back. does that isolate the u.s. and reduce your ability to enforce these sanctions? elliot: i doubtt. sanctions enforcement is not really depend upon what spokesman in foreign ministries and the secretary-general said. it depends on thousands of individual decisions by lawyers, bankers, company executives around the world, won't want to fall into the trap of u.s. sanctions. nick: your critics pointut that the u.s. an arms embargo -- that the eu will has an arms embargo on iran in the u.s.

does, and the snapback was minimal and not worth breaking the agreement. elliot: if you look at the executive order issued today, it is even broader than the arms embargo. it covers more weapons and weapon systems and it allows us to impose sanctions earlier in the process. he do not have to wait until the weapon is delivered. last week, theoreign ministers of bahrain, uae, we did not look very isolated. we do not feel isolated. in fact, the sanctions will have an impact. we are in a from many that they wish the u.n. arms embargo had been extended. it was the failure of the security council to extend the arms embargo that led us to snap

act all of the sanctions. nick: since the u.s. left the nuclear deal, iran has stockpiled more uranium and is enriching uranium at a higher rate, which means the time it would take to make a weapon -- to enrich enough uranium to make a weapon would drop. how is that achieving your goals? elliot: if you look at the jcpoa, it is a pathway for iran to get a nuclear weapon. here is what it can do after five years, here is what it can do after eight years, 10 years. 15 years. it is a pathway to a nuclear weapon. what we are saying is we are going to keep this pressure on until iran is willing to negotiate a company as of deal that actually close the door to

a nuclear weapon for iran. nick: what the message that iranian lders should draw from explosions across iran? do you believe those work accidental? elliot: you are asking meo comment on stuff that, yes that is close to classified information. what they should conclude is that there is a peer's determination on the part of many people -- there is a fierce determination on the part of many people around the world to prevent them from getting a weapon. these sections are another way of delivering the same message. very serious about it. nick: does that suggest a u.s. ally or israel are behind some

of these explosions? elliot: it does not suggest anything. but it suggests that iran will not be fitted to t a nuclear weapon and everything they are doing down that path only punishes them and the iranian people. is is something that, a series of presidents from both parties have said with the greatest possible clarity, this will not be permitted they are not acting like a country that has given up on nuclear ambitions, not at all. nick: the iranian foreign minister today said the book was not closed on the chapter of the killing of iranian general custom seimani. does this mean that deterrence has not been used? >> a direct threat, which is a remarkable thing coming from foreign minister of any country. the president responded to their

threats what it shows is that even the foreign minister is in the business of threatening terrorist attacks. it is disgraceful. ♪ judy: the death of ruth bader ginsburg has not only left a country in mourning, it's shaken up the presidential campaign with just six weeks left until election day. to explore the new dynamic, we turn to our politics monday duo. that's amy walter of the cook political report and host of public radio's "politics with amy walter." and, tamara keith of npr. she also co-hosts the "npr politics podcast." so, before i turn to you for comments, two things.

number one, it is reported reliably that the president met with amy coney barrett, the judge that he is considering for appointment to the supreme court. lisa desjardins wanted me to tell everyone was what she meant to say was there could be a senate vote by the end of october. how has what has gone on with justice ginsburg, the fact that the president said he would nominate someone right away, how is this changing or affecting the presidential campaign? >> certainly, it is affecting the oxyg level in the clinical universe. supreme court fights, and this will be a fight at the past couple have been -- supreme court nominating fights take all of the oxygen. they block the sun. take your analogy.

you can see that already happening. this is a day when coronavirus has killed 200,000 americans. it is not the top story becse there is a supreme court vacancy. the joe biden today did try to turn the focus back to coronavirus and other campaign issues. the reality is that as will be a huge focus right up to the election because the process will take that long. judy: amy, how do you see is changing the presidential race? amy: since the beginning of january, we have had an impeachment, we are right in the middle of a health crisis, economic collapse company potential for a supreme court fight right before the election. trump approval ratings in

january were around 42%, 43%. today, they are 42%, 43%. a full head joe biden up over donald trump 50-40%. this wkend, they put out a new poll. this was before ruth bader ginsburg died. 51-43. in other words, it seems as if in any moment, one of these once-in-a-lifetime events is going to upend the trajectory of the race and it simply does not. i think we have an electorate that is already supercharged, super engaged. they will show up to vote across the country no matter what. i agree that it definitely puts focus on the supreme court, so it moves it off other issues. watching you speak with senator hassan, hearing the former vice president today on the campaign

trail, i don't know if it is such a great idea for the president and the republicans to have to talk about health care going into the final stretch of this campaign. member, health care the issue that democrats used to really beat them successfully in 2016 and there is no view that health care is better for republicans this time around. judy: some of the assumption going in is that republicans would want to make this about reproductive rights, abortion. senator chuck grassley of iowa, who has been chairman of the judiciary committee is saying he now is in favor of going ahead with a vote. there was some question about what he would do. how ch does this affect the election, whether they try to rush a vote and get it done for the election versus waiting for after? tamara: i am not sure what

difference it will make. in 2016, the idea of a court fakery -- kuwait -- idea of a court vacancy out there was a important part of the election for donald trump. he put out that list of potential nominees and it helped him sure up support among evangelical voters. what happens this time, i am not sure. whether it happens on the front or back end of the election. and it may not matter who wins in november in terms of this particular seed -- this particular seat. i will say though, democrats are energized. and about the 30 hours after ruth bader ginsburg's death, act blue, a fund-raising platform for democratic causes raised $100 million. it is more than doublef their largest single day before that.

money sometimes indicates where energy is. there is a lot of energy on the democratic side. you can use that money to compete up and down the ballot. judy: a lot of money being put on the democratic side. what about this question, a vote before or after the election, and then the senate race, a number of republican incumbents in tough races. >> we have a lot of senate republicans who already know that they are tied to president trump's feet. if he loses their state, they are unlikely to win. the better he looks, the better their chances. that is why you see most of those republicans that are of this year getting behind the president. one person who has come out against this is susan collins in maine, but she is always in the tickle.

no matter what she says or does, folks who support trump in that state think she is wishy-washy. folks who had supported her in the past, because of her vote fokavanaugh, say, even if she holds off for supporting before the election or even if she says she won't support it during a lame-duck, i heard one voters say they don't trust her enough to think she will follow through. she is the one caught most in that vice. judy: there are several other republican senators waiting to hear from. mitt romney, dan sullivan. it is expected that they will back the president, but we don't know. tamara: the magic number is four. if four republicans brick off from the president, then this nomination would be sunk.

we also don't know what will happen in the hearings. it may not matter what will happen. but, there have been at times confirmation hearings that changed the course or the trajectory. in 2018, a number of moderate republicans learned there is no badge of courage that you get for separating yourself from president trump. democratic voters are not going to support you and give you a cookie for straying from the president. you still have an r next to your name. in the president will tweet against you. judy: we have seen cory gardner in a tough race in colorado. joni ernst. both of them sounded like they will be with the president. >> absolutely. and tom tillis as well. they came in in 2014, so they don't have as much of an identity that is separate from

the political environment. how they do is tied very much to healthy president does. -- to how the president does. they will remember to vote for the republican down ballot. judy: many republican calculi, or whatever the plural of calculus is. amy walter, tamera keith, we appreciate it. judy: photojournalist sebastian rich visited u.n. peacekeepers in cyprus to see how they are adapting amid the coronavirus. find his images on our web site, pbs/org/newshour. and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrowvening. newshour, thank you. please stay safe and we'll see you soon.

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -today on "cook's country," lawman makes julia a foolproof recipe for grilled flank steak with basil dressing, adam reveals his top pick for herb keepers, and christie makes bridget