10/13/20 10/13/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from nenew york, thisis is mocracy nonow! fillhave been nominated to justice ginsburg seat, but no one will ever take her place. i will be forever grateful for the path she marked in the life she led. amy: the senate confirmation hearing for supreme court nominee amy coney barrett has begun with republicans racing to get her confirmed before the election.

democrats, including vice presidential candidate kamala harris, are warning the right-wing judge would overturn the affordable care act and roe v.v. wade. ginsbsburgg j justice with someone who will undo her legacy, president trump is attempting to roll back americans lives for decades to come. amy: as protesters gather on the steps of the supreme court, we will speak with ana maría archila of the center for popular democracy. plus, we will talk to former senate judiciary committee staffer lisa graves on the big money, right-wing push to install barrett on the court. and mother jones reporter ari berman will join us. his latest article is headlined "trump wants a repeat of bush v. gore. amy coney barrett might make it happen." all that and more, coming up. welcome e to democracycy now!, democracynynow.org, the quarante report. i'i'm amy goodman.

the senate confirmation hearing of s supreme court nomominee amy coney barrett began monday with democrats warnining the fefederl judge would overturn the affordable care act and threaten -- and roe v. wade. if confirmed, barrett would give conservatives a 6 to 3 majority on the court. on monday, she gave a brief opening statement. >> courts have a vital responsibility to the rule of law, which is critical to a free society. the courts are not designed to solve every problem or right every wrong in our public life. amy: republicans promise to confirm. ahead of election day despite the protests of democratic lawmakers who say the seat of ruth bader ginsburg should be filled by whatever presidential candidate wins in this is november. democratic senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island. whitehouse: why would we rush forward? there's a promise to big donors that must be kept.

when david cook great for vice president, he campaigned on getting rid of medicaid and medicare. imagine his fury when obamacare passed. his groups are spending millions right now on ththis nomination. amy: we'll h have morere on they coneney barretett hearing after headlinenes. as t the u.s. deatath toll from covid-19 tops 215,000, president trump returned to the e campaign trail monday just a week after he was released from a hospital where he was treated for covid-19. trump spoke in front of thousands of people -- many maskless -- who were packed together in defiance of social distancing guidelines. florida governor ron desantis was seen maskless giving people high-fives just a day after the state recorded over 5500 new cocoronavirus cases. during the rally, trump again falsely claimed he is nonow imme to covovid-19. pres. trump: i went through it and now they say i am immune. i feel so powerful.

kissl walk in there and everyone in that audience. i will kiss the guys and the beautiful women -- everybody. i will give you a big fat kiss. amy: prior to trump's trip to florida, white house physician sean conley announced the president had tested negative for covid-19 on consecutive days based on two rapid antigen tests. many doctors questioned why the white house would have used a rapid test when the centers for disease control recommends only a pcr test be used to make decisions about discontinuing isolation of infected patients. dr. megan ranney, an emergency physician and researcher at brown university, told buzzfeed news -- "they're selectively reporting testing to somehow make the case he's not infectious." a number of european countries including britain, france, spain and italy are enacting or considering strict new

restrictions and lockdowns as covid-19 cases soar across much of the continent. on monday, russia reported nearly 14,000 new cases -- russia's highest daily total since the start of the pandemic. this comes as the death toll in brazil has topped 150,000, the world's second highest total after the united states. meanwhile, india has become just the second nation after the u.s. to record over 7 million infections. in china, a small outbreak has been uncovered in the port city of qingdao with 12 confirmed local ininfections. authorities are reresponding wih plans to test 9 million people in the citity. johnson & johnson has paused all covid-19 vaccine t trials aftera participant developed what the company described as an unexplained illness s during a trtrl. the phararmaceutical giaiant had recently begun the phase 3 trial of its vaccicine. this comes a month after astrazeneca paused vaccine trials after two participants

developed serious neurological illnesses. astrazeneca has resumed trials overseas but not in the united states. in other medical news, the lancet medical journal has revealed a 25-yeyear-old nevada man became infecected with covid-19 twice earlier this year , withth the infection more seve second than n the first in georgia, early voting opened monday with some voters waiting as long as 10 hours in line. technical problems with voting sheets were reported at george's georgia''s largest polling site in atlanta. around 10 million voters have already cast ballots across the u.s., shattering previous early voting records. at this time in 2016, only about 1.4 million votes had been cast. in califorornia, the secretary f state e and attorney general set a cease-and-desist letter demanding republican officials stop encouraging voters to use

unofficial ballot drop boxes that state officials say are illegal. in arizona, the pascua yaqui tribe filed a lawsuit monday to reinstate the only early in-person voting site on the reservation, which was shut down in 2018. the tribe is also seeking a ballot drop-off site for the week preceding election day. the lawsuit says the pima county recorder's office has also closed an additional three early voting locations within the tohono o'odham nation since 2018. this is herminia frias of the pascua yaqui tribal council. us here onou telling our reservation our votes don't matter? you're telling us that on the reservation, just go out there in pima county and go vote at a library that is eight miles away and deal with it. and not really understanding trtribal sovovereignty and not

realally undererstanding the la. amy: reuters repeports thehe whe housuse is moving g ahead wiwite -- weapon sales in taiwan. this comes as u.s. officials are calling on taiwan to step up its military spending. the chinese embassy responded to the news by saying the u.s. should stop arms sales and end military ties with taiwan to avoioid damagiging chinana-u.s. relationons and stability in the region. in bangladesh, the g governmentt has approved the use of the death penalty for convicted rapiststs. this comes following widespread protests over several high profile rape cases, including a gang rape in a remote village which circulated on social media. human rights watch's south asia director meenakshi ganguly noted that most cases are not reported or prosecuted and conviction rates are low, and the government should instead fofocs on reforming bangladesesh'ss justice system.

back in the united states, the wawashingtonon post" says the tp organization has charged secret service at least $238,000 for room rentals at trump properties when accompanying trump's children and their families on business trips. "the washington post" has $1.2 million in secret service charges alone since trump took office. most of the charges are related to trump's own travel, including for room rentals at his bedminster, new jersey, golf club this spring while it was shuttered because e of the pandemic. in arizonana, 12 o'ododham landd water dedefenders and allies wee arrested monday after protesters blocked d traffic near a borordr patrol checkpoint, denouncing the ongoing construction of trump's u.s.-mexico border wall on sacred indigenous land. in videos posted to social media, officers with the arizona department of public safety are seen marching toward peaceful protesters, shooting rubber bullets and tear gas at them, and restraining and handcuffing at least one protester on the hot pavement. the protesters have since been released. go to our website at

democracynow.org to see our dhamrview with an o'o defender yesterday. in santa fe, new mexico, protesters occupying the santa fe plaza chained and toppled a monument celebrating soldiers who died in battles against native american people and which describes native americans as savages. the ceo of energy y transfer, kelclcy warren, is stepping down though he will remain involved with the company. energy transfer owns the dakota access pipeline, whose future is uncertain after a federal judge in july ordered the line be shut down for an environmental review. but a federal appeals court blocked that order and will hear arguments in the case on november 4, the day after election day. kelcy warren is one of trump's biggest funders. german reseaearch teamam has jut completeted the largest t arctic expedition in history. the team's ship became deliberately frozen last october, drifting thousands of miles north and west, to study

how the arctic is being impacted by the climate crisis and increasing temperatures. this is one of the expedition's leaders, markus rex who offered a stark warning about the e fute of the planet. expenses ofbrought water in an area where it should normally be thick ice. the ice is the pole, completely melted and full of holes. it was very evident. you could see it all around. yoyou did not ne meaeasuring instruments. the icice is dying.. ththe nobel l prize inin economc sciences has been awarded to u.s. economists paul milgrom and robert wilson for their work on auction theory, which has been used "to design new auction formats for goods and services that are difficult to sell in a traditional way, such as radio frequencies, have benefitted sellers, buyers and taxpayers around the world." prprinceton universisity has agd to back pay nearly $ $1 milliono over 100 female profesessors and at least $250,000 in future

salary adjustments in response to a federal probe into gender-based pay discrimination. princeton admitted no wrongdoing as part of the agreement with the departrtment of labor. in w wisconsin, the wawauwatosa policehiefef said hehe had no reason to fire the p police offificer who shot and killed da black teenager, alvin cole, in february. 17-year-old alvin cole was the third person the officer, joseph mensah -- who is also black -- fatally shot in the past five years. milwaukee's district attorney cleared mensah last week in the killing, sparking protests which were met with police tear gas and scores of arrests. alvin cole's mother tracy cole and his two sisters were among those arrested. tracy cole's arrest was livestreamed on facebook. she can be heard saying "i can't breathe" after police hit her in the head during the violent arrest. and pulitzer prize-winning journalist jim dwyer has died at the age of 63.

he died of complications of lung cancer. he covered the new york city area for "new york newsday," "the daily news," and "the new york times." he wrote about the human lived affected by the september 11 attacks and covered racial profiling by new jersey state troopers -- leading to the indictment of two officers guilty of shooting black and latinx students. he also covered the central park five trial in 1990 and appeared -- in his final months, he told the stories of new yorkers affected by the pandemic and the frontline doctors battling the disease. in his last column for "the new york times" in may, dwyer wrote about those who feed and care for those in need. he wrote -- "in times to come, when we are all gone, people not yet born will walk in the sunshine of their own days because of what women and men did at this hour to feed the sick, to heal and to comfort." those are the words of pulitzer winning journalist jim dwyer, who died last weekek at the agef 6363. and d those are some of f the

headlilines. this i is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i am amy goodman in new york cicity joinened by juan g gonzaz from his home in newerersey. juan:: welcome to all ofof our listenerers and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: we begin today in washington, , c., where e hundrs protesteted outside the senate monday t to protest t the suprpe court confirmation hearing for president trump's nominee, judge amy coney barrett. at least 21 people were arrested after staging a sit-in to oppose the senate pushing through barrett's nomination in the middle of the presidential election. some held signs reading "no covid test no hearing," and faced off with pro-amy coney barrett protesters who had also gathered outside the senate. chants of "let the people decide" rang out from the senate steps. >> let the people decide!

let the people decide! amy: meanwhile, inside the hearing, as members of the senate judiciary committee made their opening statements, democrats argued amy coney barrett's nomination poses a threat to the affordable care act, which will be considered by the supreme court on november 10. in a united front, many democrats spoke alongside large posters showing the faces of people who rely on the affordable coverage, arguing that barrett's confirmation could mean the end of health care for millions during the pandemic. barrett's four day hearing is taking place in person even after the white house ceremony worker nomination announced less than two weeks ago was labeled a coronavirus "super-spreader event." republican senator mike lee, who recently tested positive for covid-19 after attending the white house celebration, spoke at the hearing without wearing a mask.

and the senate judiciary committee chair lindsey graham who refused to take a test by before this hearing presided.d. for more, we go to the steps of the supreme e court in washingt, d.c., where we're joined by ana maría archila, co-executive director of the center for popular democracy. she joined monday'ss protest and will b be protesting agagain to. welcome back to democracy now! one of the times we had you on was when you went in heavily on the brett kavanaugh supreme court nomination hearings as you stuck your foot in the door of the elevator that senator at the time flake wasas traveling in to demand a man who was accused of sexual assault would not move forward until that was investigated. but you're out there again. can you explain why? >> thank you so much for having me, amy.

good morning. we are here again because trump and the republicans are trying to execute a power grab. they are rushing to confirm a supreme court justice, even though people are voting right now. over 10 million people have already voted. and millions more are voting every single day. and even though we're less than a month away from the end of election season, trump is trying to install a supreme court justice. he has said that he wants a majority in the supreme court when he challenges the ballots, when he challenges the results of the election. he is also trying to finish -- complete the promise he made to his donors and his base at the beginning of his administration. he said he wanted to end the aca. guess what? having majority -- conservative majority in the supreme court will allow him to do that. the supreme court is scheduled to do hearings or hear oral

arguments on the aca on november 10. this is an incredible power grab that has terrible consequences for people across this country, especially people who rely on the aca and need access to health care in the middle of a pandememic. w what about t the arguments of the republican -- republicans atat the president i is in offie until the interviewer and the senatete can still legally act n a nomination to supreme court? it is trurue, as you s say, and naked power grabab, but what do you u say to theirir argument ad also to the issuththat sfafar at least both kamala harris and joe biden have dodged in the debate questions, do you believe i if this movoves forward the democrs shshould come if they sees contl of the white house and congress, expand or d democratize t the supreme court t by adding more

seats? >> the republicans are not concerned at all with their hypocrisy because in 2016, they themselves staged a very fierce opposition to obama's effort to fill an empty supreme court seat and prevented him from doing so and said they were not going to allow that confirmation because it was election year, even though it was many, many months before election day. in fact, amy coney barrett has some clip where she appears and she herself is presenting that argument to the american people. they act with incredible hypocrisy but that is not surprising. they have enabled the president who lies to people everyday, lied to people about the dangers of the covid virus, lied about his own health care, who lies about what he does every single day. so the republicans don't have a strong loyalty to truth.

and they also don't have a strong loyalty to people. what they should be doing right now is doing everything they can to make sure the millions of unemployed people across the country get relief. they should do what they can to make sure cities and states budgets don't collapse. they should do everything they relief foride urgent millions of people in the middle of these global pandemic and economic catastrophe. they're not doing that. what they're doing every single day is dominating justice and confirming conservative judges, and they have taken over the courts up and down the federal bench in an effort that has been incredibly steady and incredibly aggressive. areourse, like, the courts an essential part of our democracy. they need to be places where people can bring their corals and they can be resolved in favor of people. the kind of takeover of the courts the republicans have maneuvered and achieved over the

last four years is incredibly dangerous for the rights of women to control what we do with our bodies, dangerous for workers, dangerous for people who want government to be a source of support. actuallynk it is absolutely necessary for democrats to be thinking about how to rebalance the courts, to democratize the courts, and how to make them a place where demandsan bring their and where they can find justice -- which right now the conservative majority up and down the federal bench, will be extremely hard. amy: the affordable care act is up for oral arguments at the supreme court on november 10. if the schedule for this vote goes forward, the senate theciary committee -- senate judiciary is on september

22 and t thenn on september 29,e full senatate was -- with supposedly people pulled back. it looks like it could move forward d at thatt point barring any surprises. i think we''ve actually justst t ana maría archila, , so we'e're gogoing to put that quesestion o our r next guest when we come bk from breakak. ana maría archila is coexecutive director for the center f for popular democracy. she is standing on the steps of ththe supreme court. there have been protests in front of the senate. we will be back with lisa graves a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: "any other way" by william bell. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with juauan gonzalez. less t than a month before the election day andnd with eaearly voting already underway, with more than 10 laypeople

having already voted, confirmation hearings for president donald trump's supreme court nominee amy coney barrett began monday with opening statements from senators on the judiciary committee and barrett herself. four of the republicicans on t e judiciary cocommittee are up for reelection, includining the cha, south carolina senator lindsey graham, who is in very close race in south carorolina. senator kamala harris is the democratic vice-presidential nominee. the hearing took place in a room closed to the public amid coronavirus precautions. judge barrett sat with her husband and six of their seven children behind her. senator harris testified from her office on capitol hill because of the pandemic. she was not directly in the room. she warned barrett's nomination laterdizes everything the justice ruth bader ginsburg fought for and s spoke w wh the children's picture book titled "i dissent ruth bader giginsburg : make her mark."

sen. harris: president trump is attempting to roll back americans r rights for decades o come. every american m must understand that with this nomomination, eql justice under law is at stakeke. our votingng rights s are at s , workers' rights are at s stake, consumer rights are at stake, the right to safe e and legal abortion is at stake and holding corporations accountable is at stake, and again, there's so much more. so, , mr. chairman, i do believe this hearing i is a clear attemt to jam t through a supupreme cot nominee who will take healalthce away from millions of peopople during a deadly papandemic that has already killed more than 214,000 americans.

amy: that was vice presidential nominee kamala harris speaking from her senate office rather than going down to the senate chamber where the judiciary committee hearing was taking place due to covid precautions. the main presiding over the senate judiciary committee, senator lindsey graham, refused to take a covid test and addressed this issue durining te hearing saying "i took one two fridays ago. no one is going to tell me what to do, particularly my opponent." he was talking about his opponent who demanded he take a test before friday nights debate. when senator lindsey graham refused, the debate was canceled. after senator harris and other members of the judiciary committee concluded their opening statements, judge barrett was sworn in. she began her testimony by comparing her judicial philosophy to that of her mentor, the late justice antonin scalia.

barrett: more than the style of his writing, it was the content of justice scalia's reasoning that shape to me. his judicial philosophy was straightforward -- a judge must apply the law as it is written, not as she wishes it were. sometimes that approach meant reaching results that he did not like. but as he put it in one of his best-known opinions, that is what it means to say that we have a government of laws and not of men. amy: that's judge amy coney barrett testifying monday. today she faces questions from senators who have up to 30 minutes each to grill her. if confirmed, barrett would give conservatives a 63 majority on threeurt -- six to majority on the court. for r more, we'rere joined by someone e who is an expert on judicial appointments.

lisa graves served as chief counsel for nominations for the chairman and then ranking member of the senate judiciary committee. she is now executive director of the policy research group true north research, where she tracks the impact of dark money, including on judicial selectctions. lisa, welcome back to democracy now!w! i just want to share this point with you. republicans have lost the popular vote in five of the last seven presidential elections, but they're on track to seat five of f the last seven supreme court justices. can n you talalk about thee signgnificance of what i is takg place? > sure. i think there is doubt we are ruled bycreasingly minority under this country. basically, we live in democracy that is being g plagued by minonority role. in essence, , very country democratic approacach to governance.

here we are with the supreme court which is by its nature and not one where people have an equal say in terms of the appointments. the appointments are handled entirely by the senate. the senate is increasingly dominated by a majorority that represents a minority of people in america. so you have these two facets of counter democracy are contrary to our majority rule that most people believe in. and think america really should stand for and should expand. but i would add your statistics to say in fact, in my lifetime, -- pardon me, since richard nixon, there have been 16 nominations that have been confirmed to the united states supreme court for republican presidents andnd four for dedemocrats. so when people say t the court needs to be passed, needs to be unpacked.

what i is happening inin my life is the publican nomination at the republican nomination and part due to fate and impart to thesee paragraphs, if they had not stolen the seat that became open in the beginning of 2016, the court would not be six-througugh with h her majoriy republican appointees, could vevery well be the other way around. graveves, i want to ask you about a little of the histstory of where w we come to know. in 2 23, senate e majority leadr harry reid who is frustrated by republicanss blocking president obama's s judicial nominees dedecided under nuclear option, illuminated the 6 60 vote rule n presididential appointeeees andn lower federal l cot t judges and in 2017,7, majority y leaderer mcconnell counterered by eliminating that 60 vote rule

for supreme court. so that was just before the gorsrsuch nomination. to what degree is t this backck-and-f-forth between the dedemoatic majorities in the republican majorities leading us to this point of even the exextreme polarizazaon on thee court? a as i saidid, we would have 5-4 court but for these last four years of the way the republicans have operated the united states senate in terms of democratic appointees. but the reality is that this has been a longtime procecess. in e essence, republblicans s he been engaged in blocking nominees of democratic presidents for the last basically 30 years whenever they could. in ththe16 -- pardon me, 199696 election n you, president clininton, lee allowed 16 or 17 judges to be confirmed that the entire year. there was no vacancy on the supreme court. democrats have not engaged in that kind of like e eight, widespreadad blockade. dozencked more than a

rerepublican appointees on the floor of the united states senate. meanwhile, 200 of bushes nominees were confirmed. reid changed the rules or had the roles changed for lower court nominees t that was out of intense frurustratio, but the e realit is republicans were never going to honor that filibuster rule when it came to the supreme court, as mitch mcconnell did not. that has resulted in the situation where there is no compromise. the rules of the game have basically been rigged. senatotor graham is going to notice a vote on any barrett's nomination this thuhursday befoe even the answers are in from the written questions that will be submitted to her this week so they are basically willing to break evevery rule, then every rule, change every rule to pack the supreme court because they're so desperate to overturn these laws, laws that are widely respected, precedence widely respected by the american

people. there is no doubt that amy coney barrett has been chosen precisely with the view that is exactly what she will do. she was not chosen that she will be fair, but because they believe strongly she will be unfair, that she will reverse these precedents. it is unfortunate the united states senate has lost its way in terms of thesese roles that hahave been part o of its histoy fofor a long time.e. the reality is republicans have broken those rules time and time again in committetee as well asn the floor of the senate in order to fororce through increasingly extreme judicial nominees as well as block fair and reasonable modern nominees the democratic presidents have put forward. the: b but yet during presidential debate in theice presesidential debate, joe b bin anand kamala harris both dodgegd the e questition of whether they would seat t to c change the compositioion of t the court.. what is your sense of what needs toto be done and shodd demococts be leading the republilicans knw

from the s start i if you go d n this path, y you potentialally suffer consequenceces once there is a democratic majority in both congress and the w white house? > i t think the question thas been put to them is one that often is withoutut the context f how w the cocourt has already bn paed.. said,ct is, as i republican presidents in the last 50 years s ve had 15 nominations confirmed to the supreme court and onlnly four nomiminees of democratic presidents have been confirmed to the united states supreme court. that is s a massive pacacking ad capture of the court in the words of sheldon whitehouse, senator whitehouse. i think that has to be addressed. i think we need a moderate 20% true judiciary that reflects america. more than that, i think we need fair courts. the only reason to abide by court d decisions is therere soe notition that judges will be fa. the essence of the judge is not

whether [indiscernible] they have that they amend toward, everyone has that in the profofessionalal lives. being a judge is to be fair. you need to have a record of fairness, setting aside your personal views and deciding cases justly. when amy coney barrett says she is embracing justice scalia's claimed adherence of the r rulef law, w what was the in justice scalia's opinions time and again was opinions written as if they were up in columns for open with the wall street journal." we see a man willing to claim he adhered to his ideals when they were consistent with his beliefs. in other instances he did not. he did not construe things often -- when they were not in line with his views. you have someone who tried to put a mask on his judicial solosophy by claiming it is

independent of his viewsws. you have a guy was basically on the court writing and the essence a bit opinions. in putting forward his own personal views.. amy: i want toto go o to demococ senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island who was speaking in the hearing o on monday. sen. whitehouse: why would we rush forward? the answer is not pretty. there is a promise to big donors that must be cap. when david koch ran n for vice president, he campaigned on getting rid of medicare and medicaid. imagine his fury when obamacare passed? his groups are spending millions right now on this nomination. and because t that is democratic senator sheldon whitehouse and it is senate judiciary committee. lisa graves, he is talking about the affordable care act, which is up for oral arguments november 10, if amy coney barrett is approved, she might be part of those oral arguments. if you can t talk both about the

dark money invnvolved with all f this and thehe supreme court decision, whether we're talking about the affordable care act or possibly president trump choosing his own juror in case that w woodland elelection and s supreme court. >> well, one of the things i've been calling for witith the benn franklinin project is for her to recuse and commit unequivocally any casese from involving the election. the fact is we have this illegitimate process going forward to putut her on the cou. anand part of that i is the dark money that is been swirling around this effort to pack this court. in the person was at the center of that is a guy named leonard leo. in a a recent book it was notede met for dinner with president trtrump to put amy coney b barrt on the list of supreme court nominees, to specifically put her on the list after neil

gorsuch was confirmed. she is put on that list because they believed she will advance their agenda. litter leo gave a speech last year in which he said due to these appointments that america ststands at the precipice o of t he called a revival of what he described as the "structural constitution" and no one in the remote donors he was speaking to had seen the kind of revolution that was about to take place in the law that basically would rollback 100 years of precedence. that is an enormously radical reactionary agenda that letttter leo advances -- leonard leo advances. amy: federalist t society.y. >> he gave that to group. he basically has said and has been the judge for donald trump volunteer for the presidedent wo took a pay cut from the federalist society in 2018 during the kavanaugh nominatatin of about $100,000 and yet

because e of his involvemement h these other groups, he was able to pay off the mortgage for his house and on the eve of the confirmation vote for brett kavanaugh, which was two years ago last week, he purchased a mansion in maine. a 12 bedroom mansion across from brettcht club as kavanaugh was being voted on. he is gone very rich from his work trend of practice court with people he has put on the list that president trump chooses from. he recently launched a new effort earlier this year, per for-profitit operation that also advises donors on how to basically influence who gets on the supreme court and our state supreme court includingng the wisconsin n supreme court come d help pack thehese cords of pepee who o are very favorable to corporate agenda and far right wing social agenda which will repeal -- potentialally repepeaa lot of lawaws, the aca, roe v. wade, possibibly even -- [indiscernible]

federalop our government from being able to mitigate climate change by putting up hurdles, judicial hurdles to our ability to enact legislation to regulate carbon. so everything is on the line and leonard leo represents an agenda both from a social standpoint and also from a corporate standpoint. a senator whitehouse said, this is an unreal situation where we have groups raising money from a small number of potential billion -- eventually billionaires for them to put people on the court overturned precedence. the progressive side, a people merely trying to protect the precedents that exist. they're not putting on judges to reverse precedence, they're trying to protect the precedents that many americans have relied upon for decades. it is a true crisis in our democracy to have this going on. we haveve hearaves, a lot about amy coconey barrettn abortion and what

about the issue of worker rights? what has s been her record on te issue of corporations versus workers? >> one of the things that leonard leo and the president and his advisers did was get her on the bench in late 2017 so that she could begin having slender judiciary record so they could claim she has sufficient experience for the supreme court, which has been a pattern of these appointments. the fact is inin her very brief she hasing as a judge, often decided in favor of corporations against the rights of individuals, includingng employment cases, including one where there was actually racially segregated workforce. she has also ruled against plaintiffs in cases involving other worker rights. she has shown this sort of hostility toward statutory

rights of individuals who are coming to the federal court to try to get some justice from corporations that have either denied them their rights are made them lose their jobs, basically, through decisioions they challenge.. you have any barrett who has also been hostile to the rights of the a american worker. i h he no doubt she been chosen in part to fulfill president trump's pledge to overturnrn the affordabable care act, which although it is not a workers rights case, it is workingng peoples rirights case because so many people cannot afford health insurance and so many employerss do n not provide h health insure -- and we have this gig economy were p people ususing contractos that don't get any bebenefits at all and can't get health insurance without the affordable care act. amy: lisa graves, thank you for being with us, executive director director of the policy research group true north research and the ben franklinn project. she was the chief counsns for nominations for the chairman and then ranking membeber of the

senate judiciary committee. she previoususly served as depuy assistant atattorney general in the u.s. department of justice, where she was ththe staff leader of the working groupup on judicl selection. woworked under attorney general john ashcroft. when we come back, what is roe v wade in 2000 have to do with today? .e will speak with ari berman stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amamy: carole kingng performing maurice sendak's "chihicken soup with rice." this is democracacy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine reportrt. i'm amy goodman with juann gonzalez. by the way, go to democracacynow.org today whehere will be live streamingng the ful senate judiciary committee hearings for amy coney barrett. we're going to turn now to how barrett may influence e the outcome of thehe 2020 presidentl election.. president t trump has said he

wantnts the supreme court to weh in on any y election dispute a d intends for amy coney barretetto be on the court in time to be a part of that decision. this is not the first time judge barrett may have a sway over the results of a presidential election. in 2000, she worked for george w bush's legal team on the bush v gore case that stopped the recounting of ballots in florida and secured the presidency for george w. bush. if confirmed, barrett will be the third sitting justice to have worked on bush's team in 2000. justices brett kavanaugh and john roberts also worked on behalf of the bush campaign during the florida recount. stopping it. for more, we are joined by ari berman, senior reporter for mother jones. his latest piece is headlined "trump wants a repeat of bush v. gore. amy coney barrett might make it happen." tell us about this case, ari. >> amy coney bararrett was one f

potentially three conservative justices along with brett kavanaugh and john roberts who worked in floririda during the 2020 recount.. she hahad clerked for justice scalia. she was 28 8 years old. she e was woining for a lalaw fm that worked with george w. bush's main law firm run by james baker, the big washington powerbroker. she worked on a case related to bush v gore. two cases, actually, in which the issue was mail ballots. what happened in florida wasas that there were absentee ballot requestorms senent republican voters in 2004. there wewere e errors. republican officicials were able to go to the electctions offffi, take out these absentee ballllot request forms, fifill in thee missining information, which was illegal ununder florida law for them to do this so republican voters could get ballots. this gave republican voters a ballots. in mail

they try to throughout the ballots because they said voters should not have gotten because republicans illegally tampered with the ballolots. amy coney barrett went down as papart of a legal team to try to get those mail ballots counted. if they have bebeen thrownn ouol gorere would havave been preres. this was a reaeally important ce thatat got very little attention at the time. it i is ironic because amy coney barrett was depending republicans doing the very thing the trump campaign is litigating right now. it basically shows you the republican party has no principles when it comes to mail ballots.s. vidence of fraraud or impropriety in the prprocess. that is exactly what president trtrump wants to do righght n n. he wantsts a justice w who wille his weight on the vote count no matter what the facts the law actually says. juan: giviven following what has been going o on this country on the issue of mail- ballots and protectionon of the righghts of

vovoters across the countrtry. there are ports totoday of thee republican party in california puttining out unofffficial ballt collllection boxes in different coununties and the democraticc attorney general and other officials orringng them to stop. could you talk a about what u know about the califorornia situation anand the most grievos examples of your finding of tampering g th the vote around the country? >> that's right. the california republican party try to set up their own mail ballot drop boxes, whichch are ilillegal. only the state of california can set up these drop boxes. it led to major voter confusion that people could put their ballots in these drop boxes, not realizing there unofficial and their vote could be nullified. california is a heavily democratic state and democrats are voting by mail and larger numbers than republicans and

particularly want to drop them off because they're worried about the postal service. this seemed like a deliberate attempt by republicans should try to throw out these v votes thatat will be dropped off at these drop boxes. therere are a a lot of the tips around the c country to restrict mail voting. two of the most egregious events are in ohio and texas. they have been limited to one per county. ohio only had 88 drop boxes for mail voting in the entirere stae that michigan has 1004 mail voting. in texas, the govevernor issuedn order a few weeks ago singer could only be one dropboxox per county. 12, there will be one. that is a country that has more than 26 states, larger than the state of rhode island. last night by three trump appointees in the

fifth circuit court of appeals. we are seeing how a rigged judiciary is leading to rigged elections and in this country. we will see a lot more of this if amy coney barrett is confirmed to the supreme court. juan: could you talk about what happened in pennsylvania with ththe trump campaign's election lawsuit? >> this was actually an interesting insnstrumuments -- instance where judge ruled against the truck campaign. the trump campaign was seeking toto get rid of drop boxes for mamail voting and drop ballots f there was a mismatched signature to allow you to challenge people at the polls know matter what coununty liveded in. the truck appointed judge block these efforts and said the trump campaign have produced no evidence of voter fraud to justify that. the trump campaign produced a 500 page report and did not list a single evidence of voter fraud in these cases. so trump is screaming about rigged elections every single day in his speeches, on twitter, but when it comes to show the

todence of ridge elections, present the evidence of the kind of fraud he is talking about, they have no evidence to show. even some trump judges are skeptical ofof this. wewe are still waiaiting for the u.u.s. supreme court to weigh in on whether pennsylvania's deadline for receiving mail else can be extended. right have a loss has if your ballot is postmarked by election day, it can be arrived after the supreme court has yet to issue a ruling on that. amy: and if you could talklk abt what happened in georgia, early voting started yesterday. some people waited up to 10 hours to vote. and then in arizona, a tribe filed a lawsuit to reinstate the only early in-person voting site on the reservation, which was shut down in 2018. the tribe alalso seeking a ballt drdrop off site for the week

precededing election day. the lawsuit says pima county recorder's office have closed an additional three early voting reservationthin the since 2018. this vast suppression of the ability of people toto go out ad vote, especially during the pandemic. but address thesese two places. > first off in georgia, there was record early voting in georgigia yesterday. thatat was the good thing, that people are motivated to vote. the bad thingng is people waited up to 11 hours to vote in georgia, whihich is completely unconscionable. that is a form of a modern day poll tax, to make someone spent an entire day waiting to vote when they have jobs and kids, have other responsibilities. we already saw massive prorobles with voting in georgia in 2018 and the primaries. during the primaries, the average weight time for communities of color was 51 minutes. for white voters, six minutes.

we are saying way too many problems with voting in georgia that continued up to this day. it is great that people are committed to vote, that they're willing to try to overcome these barriers, but there are too many barriers being placed in front of them. with arizona, we e are saying ts and other states, where republicans are trying to cut down on access for native american community's who often live far from their polling place, who don't have reliable mail service, have been hit very hard by the covid pandemic. we have to make it is easiest for people to vote this yeaear,n paparticular because the pandemc but we especially need to make it easy for this trip the disenfraranchised and marginalid commmmunities, whether that is black voters in georgia or native american voters in arizona. can you talk about what you envision happening on election night is ralph? clearly, it is unliky we are

going to have -- or it is likely we are going to have significact numbers of bototh not counted ad challelenges all across ththe country in various states. talk a about your nighghtmare scenario and your bebest hope scenario. >> the b best hope scenario, i will start with that one because i'm trying to be a glass half-full mind state these days. ththe best c case scenario is we know who wins the election n on election night or shortly thereaftfter, that it is an overwhelming margin of victory in theirir status many disputess we would have expected -- there are not t as many disisputes as would be expected. that m massive turnout was a abo beat massiveve suppression. that is my best case scenario. my nightmare scenanario is it is very close, that it takes a very long time to be decided, that donald trump prematurely declares victoryry, evenen of te does not have the power to do that by the perception will be he will try to do that, that he

will litigate every aspectct of this i if it is close in places like pennsylvania and wisconsisi and the reasoson he is trying to rush amy coney barrett on the court right before the election is so she will be a sixth justice to hear any sort of dispute. he is nominated someone that could rule on n his behalf. he clearly thihinks he needs six justices on the core bececause e cannot trust john roboberts, evn has done john roberts so much too aidid the republica. they wantt to pack the c courtsn particular thehe supreme court o theyey uphold ththat suppressiod install donald trump for second term. that is my nightmare scenario.o. i hope it doesn't happen but that is clearly what they're trying to pull a. amy: do you think amy coney barrett, if she were confirmed, should recuse the 2 2020it came to election being t thrown into the

supreme court? >> she should d absolutetely ree herself because people are already voting a as she's bebeen nominated. we are 21 daysys from novevembe3 but over tenderly people have already voted. at the time her hearing happens, many millions of people will have voted and president trump explicitly said he wants a supreme court to look at the ballotots. so everything about amy coconey barretett's nomination isis illegitimate, but espepecially illegitimate trurump wants to gt her r on there so he can install himself f in a seconond term. she should say, i undnderstanand there's a a lot of concern about the e appearance of my nominatin or the timing ofof my nominatio, and to put some of thohose doubs to resest, i''m going to recuse myself from any postelection dispute. --my own history in florida erik has alreadydy intervened on behalf of republicans in bush v gore and related cases that only

republicican vototes are counte. both her history but also the context of her nomination makes it clear she should recuse yourself from any popostelecectn dispute. think theheo you progressives should be looking to do on elelection dayay itseln election night? what are the things you would urge people to look out for an to be prepareded for? >> first off, think people should be prepapared for voter intimimidation in generaral. people should know if they are in line to vote, never write about. if there any problems, people shouould call 866-our-vote. in terms of election night, we won't -- we are e more likely to have election week or election weeks. the message h has to be it is me important totoet this right than a do it t quickly. it is more important t to count all the votes then n declare a premature winner of the

election. we have to be patient. we have to approach electioion y ke it is halftime in a game, not like it is the endnd of the gameme. i think if we do that, explain to p people this is a differenet kind of election, we're in a pandemic and people voted a different way so it will take a little longer, that is the system workingng. taking a little longer is evidence of the system working. amy: ari berman, thank you for being with us, author of "give us the ballot: the modernn struggle for voting rights in america." go to democracynow.orgrg the live-streamed of the entire amy coney barrett hearings. and a very happy first birthday to quentin! ththat does it for our broadcas. democracynow.org for our daily grassroots global election show and the livestream of the suprememe court t hearingsgs. democracy now! is looking fofor fefeedback f from peopople who apprpreciate t the closed captioningng. e-mail your comments to outreaeach@demococracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693

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♪ hello. welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yamamoto miki in tokyo. u.s. president donald trump and joe biden are rallying support in swing states as the presidential campaign enters the final stretch. trump to to twitter to again allege that the democratic party marig the election that is three weekaway. the incumbent met his suppororts on monday in florida in the first rally since he left