10/16/20 10/16/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now!w! >> i moved to indefinitely postpone the nomination of amy coney barrett to be an associate justice of the united states supreme court. rush sham process is a disservice to our committee. amy: senate republicans are continuing to rush ahead with confirming supreme court justice

nominee amy coney barrett, blocking an attempt by democrats to postpone the process. we will speak to kristen clarkr, the headad of the nationalal lawyers' committee f for civil rights under law. she testified at t the hearing. >> we haveve conductcted an exhaustitive review w of judge barrett's writitings and d decis during her time e on theourtrt. theews a far outde mainstream. amamy: plus, we hear thehe testy of a a mother frfrom west virgi, who once had an abortion, on why she opposes the confirmation o f amy coneney barrett. >> president trurump has been clear he would only appointt justiceses who wouldld overturne v. wade. ununfortunately, in learning abt judgdge barrett's record, i understand why the p president believes she passes the test. please, listen n to people who have had abortions. hear us when we ask, do not confirm this nominee. amy: all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. the united states is approaching 8 million confirmed coronavirus 64,000ons, surpassing cases for the first time sincece july.. more t than 1000 covid-19 deaths were reported over the last 24 hours, with every region of the u.s. rate increased hospitalizations. wisconsin set another statewide record for infections with more cases700 new coronavirus reported thursdaday. wisconsin has one ofof the wor's highest test positivity rates, now over 23%. despite that, president trump is planning to hold a packed campaign rally in janesville, wisconsin, on saturday. this comes as "the wall street journal" reports throughout the line by linedemic,

edits to official health guides languagedc, altering written by scientists on social distancing and rolling back lilimits on interesting gatheris like church choirs. globally, new coronavirus infections had a new record high 330,000 40th over cases. nearly 39 million people have contracted the virus worldwide. in france, restrictions have been stated to the entire country is growing cases threatened to overwhelm french hospitals. this comes after french police raided the homes of senior government and health officials thursday as part of an ongoing investigation into their handling of the pandemic. latin america is also seeing a massive surge of cases. brazil's death toll has surpassed 152,000 as over 5.1 million people have been infected -- the third largest number of infections after the united states and india.

the world health organization warned thursday that the antiviral drug remdisivir fails to prevent deaths among covid- patients. the o's nclusion i is bad d on a study of more th 1 11,00 patients. it follows smaller, le rirousus sdies t tt found the drug canutut theumbeber dayss covid-19 patients ee spititaled. remdisivirasas beeroututiny administeredo o covi1919 tientstsn the uned states since may,hehen thfda a grted the drug emeenency u authorization. it's e e of seralal dgs administeded to esident umpp ase battled covid infection earlier this month. meanwhile, the who is warning that even in a b best-case scenario, younger, healthier people may have to wait for over a year before they'll be able to receive a vaccine against covid-19. this is dr. soumya swaminathan, chief scientist at the who. >> i thihink for the average person, a healthy young person, might have to wait until 2022 to get a vaccine.

amy: supreme court confirmation hearings for judge amy coney barrett ended thursday with the right-wing judge's confirmation looking all but assured after four rushed days of questioning in which barrett refused to state her position on abortion rights, same-sex marriage, the affordable care act, v voting climate change, family separation at u.s. border, and even if president trump could delay the election. the judiciary committee is scheduled to vote on her nomination october 22. the full senate could vote on whether or not to confirm barrett as early as october 26. just about a week before election day. we will have more on this story after headlines. in north carolina,a, voters qued in lines for up to hours four thursday as early voting got underway. with less than three weeks to go before election day, a record 17 million people have already cast ballots -- some 15% of the u.s.

electorate, many of them in battleground states like pennsylvania, florida, and texas. on thursday night, democratic presidential nominee joe biden appeared on abc for a town hall event scheduled by the campaign after president trump refused to hold a second debate with biden virtually after trump tested positive for coronavirus. during the 90 minute town hall, biden blasted trump over his handling of the pandemic and urged people to wear masks and follow other public health measures. biden also defended elements of his 1994 crime bill, which led to mass incarceration in the u.s. and he said local police departments should be reformed and better funded, not defunded or dismantled. mr. biden: we should not be defunding cops, we should be mandating the things that we should be doing within police departrtments and make sure there's total transparency. amy: as biden spoke, president trump appeared at a rival town hall event in miami florida, hosted by nbc. the network's decision to give

trump a simultaneous platform drew from nbc news anchors and journalists. columbia journalism review editor kyle pope called it a craven rating stunt. during the one-hour broadcast, trump falsely claimed 85% of people wearing masks catch coronavirus. he said he was unaware of whether he took a coronavirus test ahead of his debate with joe biden in late september, and did not deny that he is more than $400 million in debt. just would not say to who. pressed by savannah guthrie, trump refused to disavow the far riright anti-semitic qanon conspiracy theory. >> let me asask you about qanon. that democratseory are a satanic pedophile ring, and you are the savior of that. can you once and for all state that that is completely not true? can you disavow qanon in its

entirety? pres. trump: i know nothing about mcewen on. doesn't tell me necessarily make it back. i hate to say that. i knknow nothing about it. i do know w there very m mh against pedophilia stop ththey fight it very hard. amy: trump's on fbi director christopher wray as identified qanon as a domestic terrorism threat. ahead of thuhursday's dueling tn halllls, presisident trump ralld some 2000 supporters in greenville, north carolina, where e people packed shoulder-to-shoulder and few wore masks. in a shocking moment, trump appeared to admit he ordered u.s. marshals to carry out the extrajudicial killing of anti-fascist activist michael reinoehl in washington state on september 3. pres. trump: we sit in the was marshals. took 15 minutes and it was over.

15 minutes, it was over. we got him. they knew who he was. they did not want to arrest him. in 15 minutes, that ended. amy: last month, trump bragged about reinoehl's killing in an interview with f fox news, sayig there "there has to be retribution." reinoehl was believed to have killed a far right protester. former new jersey governor chris christie is asking americans to wear masks and to practice social distancing after he revealed on thursday that he spent a week in an intensive care unit while hospitalized with covid-19. christie is one of dozens of people, including president trump, who became infected after a white house celebration for trump's supreme court nominee in late september. in a statement, former governor christie wrote -- "i was wrong not to wear a mask at the amy coney barrett announcement and i was wrong not to wear a mask at my multiple debate prep sessions with the president and the rest of the team. i hope that my experience shows my fellow citizens that you should follow cdc guidelines in public no matter where you are

and wear a mask to protect yourself and others," chris christie wrote. u.s. workers filed nearly 900,000 initial unemployment claims last week amid fresh signs the u.s. economy is suffering lasting damage due to the pandemic. about 65 million u.s. workers have applied for some form of jobless assistance since the start of the pandemic. this comes as a pair of new studies show 8 million u.s. residents have been forced into poverty since republican senate majority leader mitch mcconnell let the cares act coronavirus relief bill expire in july. mcconnell has refused to hold a senate vote on the follow-up $3 trillion heroes act relief bill passed by house democrats in may. in kansas city, housing advocates protestiting evictions during the covid-19 pandemic chained themselves to the front doors of the jackson county courthouse in an attempt to shut down the court all day and block eviction hearings. activists with the group kc

tenants have referred to evictions during the pandemic as acts of violence. in chicago, ex-police superintendent eddie johnson is being accused of repeatedly raping and abusing his former driver and fellow police officer. in a lawsuit filed late wednesday, officer cynthia donald says johnson committed shockingly violent acts of sexual assault against her for over three years and later destroyed the evidence on his cellphone when the city's inspector general launched an investigation into johnson's conduct. chicago mayor lori lightfoot fired johnson last year following mounting accusatioions of misconduct and after he was found asleep on the wheel after a night of heavy drinking. this comes as the chicago police department says it will only accept five of the 155 proposed changes to its use-of-force policy suggested by a group of community leaders. the 20-member group was

appointed after the may police killing of george floyd in minnesota. in los angeles, 22-year-old basketball fan william gonzalez lost vision in his right eye early monday after he was shot in the face by a police projectile, causing his eye socket to shatter and eyeball to explode. the incident came as the lapd declared a celebration of the lakers' nba championship an unlawful gathering and moved in on revelers. other peopople were also badlyly injured d by police, including a man who lost eight teeth. the university of miami used a network of surveillance cameras and facial recognition software to track down ststudents invnvod in a protest last month against the university's decision to resume in-person classes during the pandemic. that's according to "the miami new times," which reports that after being identified in surveillance footage, the students received emails ordering them to report to university administrators for

questioning. nebraska's republican senator ben sasse tore into president trump on wednesday over his support of human rights abuses and racists, accusing trump of personally profiting from the presidency. senator sasse's remarks can be heard in a recording of a phone call with constituents published by "the washington examiner." >> the way he kisses dictators's b ignores the uighurs are in literalutts, concentration cans right now. he is not lifted a finger. the west regularly sells out our allies under his leadership. the way he treats women and spends like a drunken sailor. criticized president obama for that spending, i criticized trump as well. his family has treated the presidency like a business opportunity. amamy: those are the words of

republican senator ben sasse. those comments came as "the daily beast" reported right-wing media mogul rurupert murdoch is predicting joe biden will defeat donald trump in a landslide. in colorado,o, the cameron peakk fire has become the largest wildfire in colorado's history. the fire h h consumed more than 167,000 0 acres acroross fort collins, north of denver. yemen houthi rebels have begun exchanging more than 1000 prisoners with yemen's saudi-backed government in the first large-scale prisoner swap since civil war erupted in 2014. u.n. envoy martin griffiths hailed the exchange as an important milestone toward ending conflict in yemen, where years of attacks by a u.s.-supported, saudi-led coalition have exacerbated a humanitarian crisis that's pushed millions to the brink of famine. in a related prisoner exchange, more than 200 houthi supporters were allowed to return home from oman in exchange for the release of two u.s. citizens held captive by houthis. this is released american

prisoner mikael gidada speaking from oman just after his release. >> american citizenen living and working inin yememen. i was i in p prison for 899 days two year s six mths.s. years, six-month in solitary confinement. it was really hell. arrested at los angeles international airport thursday whwhile o on a family vacation. he was arrested on a warrant by the u.s. drug forstmann administration. he served as defense secretary from 2012 to 2018 under former mexican president pena nieto. the mexican magazine reports the arrest was connected to a corruption probe involving drug traffickers. he was defense secretary the time it zoomed massacrere of 43 students from a teacher's

in mexico. last month, mexican and 30's issued arrest warrants for soldiers in connection with the massacre. and in georgia catholic priestst , a has been sentenced to 33 months in jail for breaking into the kings bay naval submarine base in georgia to protest u.s. nuclear weapons policy. father steve kelly is part of the kings bay plowshares 7 -- a group of catholic peace activists who entered the base in 2018 armed with hammers, crime scene tape, baby bottles containing their own blood, and an indictment charging the u.s. government with crimes against peace. the base is home to at least six nuclear ballistic missile submarines, each of which carries 20 trident thermonuclear weapons. father kelly has been locked up since his arrest on april 4, 2018, so he has already served nearly all of his 33-month sentence, which included time served. another member of the kings bay plowshares 7, patrick o'neill, is being sentenced today. to see all of our coverage on

the kings bay plowshares, visit democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, we look at the supreme court confirmation hearings for judge amy coney barrett. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. the supreme court confirmation hearings for amy coney barrett ended thursday with the right-wing judge's confirmation looking all but assured after four rushed days of questioning in which barrett refused to state her position on abortion rights, same-sex marriage, the affordable care acact, voting rights, climate change, and even if president trurump could d dey ththe election. if confirmed, barrett will give conservatives a 6-to-3 majority on the high court. the hearing's final day kicked

off with senate republicans in the judiciary committee voting to schedule a vote on barrett's supreme court confirmation for october 22. republican senate judiciary committee chair lindsey graham called for a vote before the hearing had d even finished and without enough democrats present in the room. senanator dick durbin -- the soe democrat p present -- attemptedo adjourn the meeting in r respon. sen. durbin: mr. chahairman, you cannot conductct businesess witt another r minority member prese. i i'm goining to makake a motion to adjourn this meeting until we havave completed thee hearining on amy coney b barret. we still have a panelel before . this i is unprecedenented. wewe have never done this before as a committee. if we e are going to honor the rules and show mutual respect, the fact is we cannot move forward. sen. g graham:m: we've had this problem in the past. we are dealing with it the way we a are tododay. ifif we crarave this proboblem e

futurereyou'rere gng to do what i'm going to do, whichch is move forward on the business of the committee, on the motion the clerk will call the role. amy: senate minority leader chuck schumer said the move solidified "the illegitimacy of this sham process." if the senate judiciary committee approves judge barrett's nomination on october -- confirmation on october 22, the full senate could vote on whether or not to confirm her as early as october 26, just over a week before election day. this has never happened before. senate majority leader republican mitch mcconnell said thursday that republicans have the votes needed to confirm her. on thursday, democratic senator richard blumenthal of connecticut moved to suspend the hearing indefinitely. sen. blumenthal: i move in definitely to postpone the nomination of amy coney barrett to be an associate justice of the united states supreme court. sham processs rush is a disservice to our

committee. rushed in away that is historicacally unprecedented. there has never been a nomination in an election year after the month of july. the purpose of doing it is simply to have a justice on the suprememe court, as the presidet said, to decide the election and the strike down the strike down the affordable care act. we have had inadequate time to review this domination as indicated most recently yesterdaday, a cnn report thatat there are seveven morepeeches or talks that she has given that haveve not been disisclosed to s committee. e consequence of this rushed process is that we have given inadequate scrutiny to this nominee. i move to delay these proceedings so that we can do our job. amy: senator blumenthal was referencing a cnn report that

revealed judge barrett did not disclose seven talks recorded on the university of notre dame law school's public calendar, including one with an anti-choice group in 2007. cnn also uncovered evidence she gave two talks in 2013 to anti-choice groups at the school. ununder senate rules, barrett is required to provide a lilist of all public talks she has givenen in her professional career. blumenthal's motion to suspend the hearing indefinitely was denied along party lines. dedespite outcry from democrats about the rushed nomination process and how judge barrett's role on ththe court could end health care for millions and threaten roe v wade, california democratic senator dianne feinstein ended the hearing thanking senate judiciary chair lindsey graham for his leadership. sen. feinstein: mr. chairman, i just want to thank you. this has been one of the best set of hearings i have participated in, and i want to thank you for your fairness.

amy: the 87 year-old ranking democrat then hugged graham, who has refused to be tested for the coronavirus. neither of them wore masks. well, for more, we go to washington, d.c., where we're joined by kristen clarke, president and exexecutive didirr of the l lawyers' committeeee fr civil rights undnder law. she testified at judge barrett's hearing on thursday. welcome back to democracy now! why don't you start off, as this is just after you yourself have teststified remotely because of covid at this hearing, start off by talking about the significance of what you heard this week and also what has actually taken place here, the unprecedented nature ofof this taking place as people are voting all over the country for the next president of the united states. >> thank you for having me. this is a historic nomination

because this has n never happend before. wewe have never had a aresident put forth a nomination n and commence confirmation hearings in t the middle of an ongoing presidential election. according to michael mcdonald, who runs the elelections project as of yesterday, about 20 million americans have cast ththeir b ballots. for many of those americans, those may be people for whom the supreme e court is top of mind. those are people whoho are exercisingng their right to determine who will be president and who will sit in those senatorial seats to carry out ththe constitutional role of filling a supreme court vacancy. throughout our nation's history, presidents have respected the fact that the voters deserve voice in this process, which is why we have never seeeen a nomination take place at this moment. there are two instancnces that senator graham talkeked about in

which vacancies were filled late in the y year. those were e vacancies fifilledy presidents who were actually reelected, one of whom was reelelected and that p preside's party also gained a deeper majoririty in the s senate. i want to underscore how unprecedented this moment is because you truly politicize is the supreme court in dangerous ways, ways that may undermine safeublic's confidenence and in the court. we cannot ignore president trump's objective here. he has made very clear that he wants a full nine-member court to decide any disisputes which e and -- anticipates may or may not arise from m the selection. he wants a nine-member court in place by november 10 to h hear e affordable care act case.

this weekeavy throughout the hearings. i thought what happened yesterday morning was incredibly important. senator blumenthal put forth a motion to suspend the process. they raced forward this week i n the middle of a pandemic. they started the process on a federal holidayay. they did so whilee the senate ws actually in recess. they have turnrned attention awy fromom the emergency n needs the public faces in the middle of the pandemic toto turn attention to this. as you noted, it i icontinuingng to s service their are aspects f her record that have not yet surfaced. the senator's motion ultimately failed and the hearing went forward, but i thought it was we had anyhat opportunity to shine a light on what a broken process this is, what a rushed procecess this is. we are talking about a lifetime seat on our nation's highest

court, and that should be a seat filled after t t senate isis abe carefully --- carefulully carry out its duty to provide advice and consent by thoroughly looking at and examining e every aspectct of her recordrd, leavio stonone unturned. amy, my organization, the lawyers committee for civil rights under law, conducted a thorough examination of her record, at least the record that has been made public. we looked at her speeches during the time of notre dame, her writings, and her opinions during her short tenure on the seventh circuit. we found she failed the second prong of our standard, which looks to determine whether or not the nominee is someone who will bring an exceptional commitment to enforcement of our federal civil rights laws and the constitution. what was really striking this week was to see judge barrett go to great lengths to distance herself from the reality of

voting discrimination that we face in our country. she was asked basic questions, is voter intimidation illegal? she would not agree to this proposition. voter intimidation is plainly illegal under section 11 b the voting r rights act. it violates federal criminal laws. she was asked whether voting discrimination is ongoing. this was during questioning with senator harris. she r refused to answer that question. amy: i want to go to her questioning on this issue by minnesota democratic senator amy klobuchar. sen. klobuchar: lester get contractor from outside of my state of minnesota started recruiting poll watchers with special forces experience. to protect polling locations in my state. this was clearar voter intimidation. similar efforts are going on around the country solicited by

president trump's false claims of massive voter fraud. so as a result of his claims, people are trying to get poll watchers, special forces people, to go to the pulse most of judge barrett, under federal law, is it illegal to intimidate voters at the polls? hon. barrett: senator klobuchar, i can't characterize the facts in a hypothetical situation and i can't apply a lot to a hypothetical set of facts. i can only decide cases as they come to me, litigated by parties on the full record after fully engaging precedent, talking to colleagues, writing an opinion. so i can't answer questions like that. amy: that is judge barrett. the signifificance o of this response, kristen clarke? >> there's nothing hypothetical about voter intimidation. we are in the middle of an election season whwhere we know voter is alive andnd well. we have heard the reports about inintimidating polll watchers, showing up at satellitete leadig centers in philadelphia.

voter intimidation sally has been a stain on our democracy throughout our nation's history. so it was deeply troubling that judge barrett was unwilling to acknowledge basic aspects about american life, thatt the right o vote essential but the right to vote has been under attack for black people, latinos, anand for communities of cololor. that voter intimidation is real. i could accept aspectcts of her response that i need to actually look at particular scenario in order to determine whether or not it violates the constitution or federal law, but to not tell the american public that she would come to the bench with a basic underststanding that votig discrimination is real, that voter intimidation does happen, is deeeeply, deeply y troubling. amy: i want to turn to another issue that is so deeply concerning people all over this

country, and that is the issue of reproductive rights. whether we're are talking about ivf or infertile couples or whether we are talking about the issue of abortion. testified about her experience having an abortion, expressing concerns that barrett's confirmation would limit access to safe, affordable care. duduring threeee days of hearin, judge barrett rerepeatedly refud to ansnswer questions about t hr views on abortion n and the fute of roe v v. wade despite her public record opposing reproductive rights. this is od's s oping statement. >> mname is crystal good. i amam six genereration wawas virginian. writer, poet, small busininess owner, graduduate student at wet virgininia university and advoce for survrvivors of sexual l abu. i am a daughter of a a white mother andnd a black father. i am the proud mother of ththree brilliant children. thesidenentities a all par of m me, but n not all of me. who i am t tod is only possible

bebecause at 16 years old, i had access t to an abortn. as a minor in a state with a parental consent r requirement, that access was depependent on a judgee because without a shadoww of a a dououbt, i coululd not tt the adultss closest to me. from the ages of five until i was 15, i was s sexually abusedy my white stepfather. he was not c convicted until 20. more than 30 years aftfter the ababuse began. when i told d the grown folks in my life, they did not belilievee at first a and tn refused d to hold him accccountable once the trtruth was out. later at 16 while in a rerelationship t that brought my and mamade me feel safe, i, like 2.7 millilion americans here coe had an unintended pregegnancy. immediately, i knew i wawanted n abortion. very safe, medicical procedure that o one in four u.s.s. womenl have in n their lifetimes. for many reasons, including the

decade of abuse shehe did notot protect me from, i could n not y momother. and ththat, i sosought a judicil bybypass. i had too navigate not only how to get to the judge, but h how o do so on a school day. i had no idea what i should wear or what information he would wantnt. i thought i was going to cocourt like on tv. but insteaead, i was usherered o his chambers. it felt vevery intimidatining. i told d m i was a good student. i was a leader in my s school. i had opportunities that manyny young women from west vivirginia did not. i wanteded to go to college toee a iterer. i said, youour honor, i haveve a fufuture. i choooose an abortion. it felt t like a miracle i iadut believed me, an authority figure emed to be t to i in charge o f my ownwn b body anand my own fu. i s still think what might have happppened if i did notot have a list o of accomplishments were t the e judge did not think i was confident enough t to start my thely, or if you believed

harmful stereotypepe i was raisd to believe that black girls were passed and promiscuous. access to an abortioion should t depepend on our gpa, ththe colof our skin, where we live, or the luck of the draw. itit should not depend on anyy shape, form, orr fashion who yor governor is whwho is sitting on the supreme court.t. my entire chihildhood is everyy adult in my life h killed me. none of them deserve t to make a decision abobout my body. i needed compassion and trust for my government. all i got was another barrier. ththere arare thousands like meo are sexually abusedd by pareren, guguardians, grown-upsps who aro support t them. today, 37 statates require parentalal consent or r notificn fofor a minor to access abortrt. most youngng peoeople to i invoe their parerents in their decisi, but for those like me who cannot , these kindsds of restrictions make abortion hard t to get. bebecause we have toto travel, s work or school, save e up for

weekeks and pay out-of-pocket.t. the average per capita income in givesirginia is 25,400 josh 17 of your sesenate salari. integer appapachia, b black and w-income w white people struggle to a access health care, i inclg abtion. and to have our decisions respecteted. the supreme cocourt has made historic decisisions uphold our rights and freedoms. my right to anan abortion of the integration n of my public schos , the affordable health carect that ensures i have health ininsurance, a workplace prototectionfor my traransgender daughter. i have p put my y faith in the supremee courtrt. and with this nomination, i am losing faith. although the wayay i havave chon to create my family is demonized by some politicians, the r reali is that we arare like most famies across s the nation. i i had an aboion. i havave t two s sons and a a dr

who isis trans i love my c children. we are a proud family comeme african-amamerican appppalachia. my stotory is own but rerepresesents so many peoplplet out from the supreme courtt nomiminee hearings. -- ann n entire castor peoeople the peoeople.te president trump has been n clear he wilill only appoint justices who will overturn roe v. wade. unfortunately, through learning about judge barrett's record, i understand w w the presisident believes she passes the test. pleasese, listen to people whwho haveve had abortions. hear us when we ask you, do not confirm this nominee. our future and our family y come r lives depend on it. ns. too, are america amy: that is crystal good testifying against amy coney barrett who once signed a newspaper advertisement that

stated "it is time to put an end to the barbaric legacy of roe v. wade and restore laws that protect the lives of unborn children." kristen clarke, i would ask you about this, particularly in light of what judge barrett said in 2006 at a commencement address at notre dame. she said, "keep in mind, your legal career is but a means to an end and as father jenkins told you this morning, that end is building the kingdom of god." kristin? >> if confirmed, judge barrett will be a fifth vote to eviscerate the importantnt prototections that have been affordeded by roe v. wade. i thought crystal good's testimony yesterday was incrededibly powerful. it was courageous of her to

share e her persononal testimon. it is an experience shared by so many women across our country who rely on the courts precedent in roe to ensure their dignity, to ensure their ability and freedom to make t their own personalal choices about their bodies. i believe that senator graham freely described judge barrett as pro-life stop we looked at her record and in addition to that petition that you reference, amy, wrote an article -- there was an article that appeared in 2013 in the notre dame magazine that referenced the speech that she gave called "roe at t 40." they described herer of speakikg of roe as a case that created through judicial fiat, a framework of abortion on demand in a political environment that was already liberalizing abortion state-by-state, igniting a national controversy. there were moments where she was

asked whether she deemed roe v. wade super precedent. she refused to subscribe that label to the decision. and some of the cases that have come before her on the seventh circuit have made clear that she has deep skepticism about roe. i believe if c confirmed, she wl be the fifth vote that chips away of not got an roles back the important protections long afforded by roe v. wade. amy: kristen clarke, in your testimony yesterday, you talked about issues of racial justice, vrticularly the case of f smith illinois department of transportation. a worker there and the n-word. describe why you f felt this was so critical. >> i felt it was important to bring these cases outt because theyey show a patattern, a pattn in which she has tended to put the interest of corporationons d

employers over the inteterests f vulnerable employees.. smith versus illllinois departmt of transportation involved a black traffic patrol driver who alleged he was subjecteded to a hostile work environonment. among thee various pieces of evidence presented in the case was the fact he wasas subjectedo use of the n-word in the workplace repeatedly. judge barrett did concede that the n-word is "egregious racial epepithet," bubut ultimately concluded this was n not enougho prove that he was subjected to this sort of racial hostility that was enough to prove viirimination under title in thihis case. there was ananother case that we have heard about during thee week, eeoc versus autozone. this is a case i involving autozozone's decision to assign workers to different sites

based on their race. they would assign black workers to particular stores based on race of the emploloyee and babad on the preredominant race of employees seserved, and did d te same w with tino''s. -- with latinos. and here the client who was at the center of this case was a black worker assigned to the south side of chicago. ultimatetely, the court found employees were still paid the same and received the same benefits and had the same job responsibilitieses, so judge babarrett refefused to rehear te casese. but i think that is very dangerouous. this is auautozone, essentially putting i in a separate but equl racial doctrine e in the workplplace. i think thehe sum total of these two cases makes clear she will likely look at cases involving

allegations of discrimination with great skepticism and will likely always -- if not the majority of thee time -- side with corporations and employers. that is unfortunate.. as a civivil rights lawyer, we bring caseses on behalf off vulnerable communities to the court and do so hoping that ,gregious facts like this racial policies, racial segregation in the workplace, use of the n-word -- these are the kind of smoking gun cases that we seek to bring to the courts to vindicate the rights of those most vulnerable in our society. amy: kristen clarke, we want to ask if you will stay with us. you're talking about corporate power. in the next segment, we're going to play an excerpt of the rhode island senator sheldon whitehouse who takes us on a journey following the dark money trail and how it has reshaped

the nation's judiciary, then we want to get your final comments stop kristen clarke is the executive director of the lawyers' committee for civil rights under l law. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. we continue our coverage of the now concluded hearings for supreme court justice nominee amy coney barrett. we turn to democratic senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island. on tuesday, he opted not to ask judge barrett any questitions mt instead he gave a 30ininute presentation on how right-wing groups, inincluding the federalt society and judicial crisis network, have e used dark moneye reshshape the nation's judiciar. this is an excerpt. sen. whitehouse: my experience around politics is when you find hypocrisy in the d daylight, lok

for power in the shadows. now, people may say, what does all this matter, this is a political parlor game, it's no big deal. well, there's some pretty high stakes here that we've been talking about here on our side and i'll tell you three of them right here -- roe versus wade, obergefell, and the obamacare cases. in all cases, there is big anonymous money behind various lanes of activity. one lane of activities through the conduit of thehe federalisit society. it's managed by a guy, was managed by a guy named leonard leo, and it has taken over the selection of judicial nominees. how do we know that to be the case? because trump has said so. over and over again n his white house counsel said so. so we have an anonymously-funded group controlling judicial selection run by this guy leonard leo.

then in another lane, we have again anonymouous funders runnig through sosomething called the judicial crisis network, which is r run by y carrie severino ad it's doing pr and campaign ads for republican judicial nominees. it got 17 million -- single $17 million donation in the garland/gorsuch contest. it got another single $17 millllion donation to o support kavananah. somebody, perhaps the same persrson, spent $3535 million to ininfluence the makeup o of the unitited states supreme court. tell me that's good. and then over here, you have a whole array of legal groups also funded by dark money which have a different role. they briring cases to the e cou. they don't wind their way to the court,t, your honor, they geget shoved to the court by these legal groups, many of which ask to lose below so they can get quickly to the court to get their business d done there.

and then they turn up in a chorus, an orchestrated chorus of any key. now, i've had a chance to have a look at this, and i was in a case actually as an amicus myself. the consumer financial protection board case. and in that case there were one, two, three, four, five, six, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 amicus briefs filed and every single one of them was a g group funded by something called donors trust. donors trust is s a giganticic identity scrubbing device for the right wing so that it says donors trust is ththe donor without whoever r the real donor is. it doesn't have a business. it doesn't have a business plan. it doesn't do anything, it is just an identity scrubber. and this group here, the bradley f foundation, funded eight out of the 11 briefs. that seems weird to me when you

have amicus briefs coming in little flotillas that are funded by the same groups but nominalay separate in the court. so actually attach this to my brief as an appendix. center for media and democracy saw it and they did better work. they went on t to say which foundations funded the brief writers in that cfpb case. here's the bradley foundation, for $5.6 million to those groups. here's donors trust, $23 million to those bririef writing groups. the grand total acrossss all the dononor groups was $68 million o the groups that were filing amicus briefs pretending that they were different groups. and it's not just in the consumer financial protection board case. you might say, well, that was just the one-off. here's janus, the anti-labor case that had a long trail through the court. through friedrichs and through knox and through other decisions.

and source watch and propublica did some work about this. here's donors trust and donors capitatal fund and herere's thee bradleley foundation. and they totaled giving $45 million to the one, two, three, four, fifive, six, seveven, eig, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, , 14, 15 groups that filed amicus briefs pretending to be different groups. and both of the lawyer groups in the case. funded by donors trust, fundnded by braradley foundatioion in ja. this is happening over and over and over again. and it goebeyond just the briefs. it goes beyond just the amicus presentations. the federalist society -- rememember this group that is acting as the conduit and that donald trump has said is doing his judicial selection? ththey're getting money f from e sasame donations. 60.7 millionrust,

dollars. from the bradley foundation $1.37 million. , from the same group of foundations, total $33 million. so you can start to look at these and you can start to tie them together. the legal groups, all the same fufunders over and over again, bringing the cases and providing this orchestrated chorus of amici. this is to be a pretty big deal. i have never seen this around any court i have ever been involved with that there is this much dark money and this much influence being used. here's how "the washington post " summed it up to remake the nation's court. $250 million dark money operation, which is another piece of it.

and that is, not what is ahead of us, but what is b behind us. what is behind us is now 80 caseses, mr. chairirman. 80 casesnder chiefef justice roberts that have these characteristics. one, they were decided five before by a bare majority. two, the fivive before majorityy was ---- five to four majority s partisan in the sense that not one democratic appointee joined the five. i refer to that group as the roberts five. it changes a little bit,t, as wh justice scalalia's death, for instance, but there's bebeen a steady roberts five that has delivered now 80 of these decisions. and the e last chararacteristicf them is that there is an identifiable republican donor interest in n those caseses. and in every single case, that donor interest w won. it is important to look at where those cases went because they're not about big public issues like getting rid of the affordable

care act, undoing roe versus wade, and undoing same-sex marriage. they're about power. and if you look at those 80 decisions, they fall into four categories over and over and over again. one, unlimited and dark money in politics. citizens united is the famous one but it's continued sense with mccutcheon. and we've g got one coming up n. next, knock ththe civil jury do. whittle it down to a nub. the civil jury was in the constitution, in the bill of rights, in o our darn declaratan of independence. but it's annoying to big corporate powers because you can swagger your way as a big corporate power through congress, you can gogo and tell the president you put money into to elect what to do. he'll put your stooges at the epa. it is all great until you get to the e civil juryry because theye

anan obligation, as you know, judge barrett. they have an o obligation under the e law to be fair to o both parties irrespective of their size. you can't bribe them. you're not allowed to. it is a crime to tamper with the jury. it's standard practice to tamper with congress. third, first was unlimited dark money,y, second was dememean and dimininish the civil jury,y, thd is weaken regulatory agencies. a lot of this money, i i'm convinced, is polluter money. ththe koch industries is polluter. the fossil fuel industry is a polluter. who else w would be putting buckets of money into this and wanting to hidide who they are behind donors trust or other schemes? and what if -- if you're a big polluter, what do you want? you want weak regulatory agencies.. you wawant ones that you can box up and run over to congress and get your friends to fix things for you in congress.

and the last thing is in politics, in vototing. why on eararth the court made te decicision, a factual decision, a f factual -- nonot something appellate courts ordinararily ae supposed to makeke as i understd it, judge barrett -- the factual decisionon that nobody needededo worry about minority voters in pre-clearance states being discriminated against or that legislators would try to knonock back their ability to vote. these five made that finding in shelby county against bipartisan legislation from both houses of congress, hugely passed, on no factual record. they just decided that that was a problem that was over. on no record, with no basisis, because it gotot them to the result that we then saw. what f followed state after stae after state passed voter suppression laws. one so badly targetiting

african-americans that two courtsts said it was surgically, surgically tailored to get after minority voters. in all these areas whehere it is about polilitical power for big special ininterests and pepeoplo want to fund campaigns and peopople who want to get their y through politics without actually showing up, doing it behind donors trust and other groups, doing it throuough these schemes. over and o over and over again u see the same thing. 80 decisions, judge barrett. something isis not right around the court. and dadark money h has a lot too with it. special interests have a lot to do with itit. donors trust and whoever'ss hiding behind donors trust has a lot to do with it and the bradley foundation orcheherating itits amici over a at the courts a lot to do with it. amy: that is democratic senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island speaking at the supreme

court jujustice confirmation hearings for amy coney barrett. talking about how dark money has reshaped the nation's judiciary. in these lasast few minutes, w'e still with kristen clarke, president and executive director of the lawyers' committee f for civil rights under law. she also testified in the last day of the hearings. this dark underscore money trail and what it has meant for your work. and include in this come as we wrap up for the week, we are in the voting season. it is not just election data more, something like 15% of the electorate has already voted. many new voters. the obstacles that are being put in their way. >> i i thought that senator whitehouse'ss remarksks were incredibly important. we need to pull back the veil. we need toto shine a light a and have more transparency on how the federalist society and

donors network and allll of thee other related organizations operate. they have become a powerful, well-funded force in terms of transforming the court. as a civil rights organization, we have become deeply concncernd about the group they have on the judicialal nomination process. we have seen them put forth nominees who are not d diverse. they have rolled the clock back on racial and gender diversity in our federal couourts. we have seen nominees whwhose rerecords reflect extremism, nominees who are f far outside e thestream so understanding funding trophy these organizations is incredibly important. it is a reminder about the devaststating 2010 supreme court decision in citizens united, whicich has m made transparencyn it comes t to donations allllhe more difficult.

to y your question, amy, that where we are right now, we are right t now, we'rere in the mide of a p pandemic that has upended elections across our country, but it has been remarkablble to see the secretarieies of state n a number of places really be vevery proactive in recogngnizig that fact. secretaries of state that have lifted some of the barriers and burdens that voters face when it comes to accessing absentee ballots, when it comes to notary and witnessss requirements for voters who may be quarantined at their home because of their health. but orgaganizations like mine, lawyers committee for civil rights under law, have been working day and night in the courts to address some of those statates that i faiailed to life barriers -- that haveve failed o lift the bears. sosome include taxes, georgia, tennessee, andnd others. my hopope is that all voters who want to have voice will be able

to do so in the days that remain under the 2020 alexion. amy: kristen clarke, thank you for being with us, president and executive director of the lawyers' committee for civil rights under law. that does it for our broadcast. in these last days leading up to the final electionbbxxxxxxñ

man: it's been whwhile. sami: surhas.