Ginsburg’s death puts a match to American political life

BY JACK CROWE

September 21, 2020

NEWS OF SUPREME COURT JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG'S DEATH on Friday put a match to the tinderbox of American political life, adding yet another layer of significance to an election that partisans on both sides have been casting as existential since Trump took office.

As soon as the news broke that Ginsburg, who was appointed to the Court in 1993, had succumbed to pancreatic cancer, Twitter activists began shrieking about "burning it all down" — and their analog equivalents showed up outside Majority leader Mitch McConnell's house in Washington, D.C., presumably in an attempt to intimidate him into delaying the confirmation of Ginsburg's replacement. (They left disappointed after learning that he wasn't in Washington.)

Unfortunately for McConnell, wherever he was, the protesters had comrades in arms in Kentucky, roughly 100 of them, who gathered outside the majority leader's house on Saturday.

The protesters held signs reading "Ruth Sent Us' and chanted, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Mitch McConnell has got to go," "vote him out" and "ditch Mitch."

McConnell announced Friday night that he would move forward with confirming President Trump's nominee without delay on the grounds that his party had unified control of the White House and the Senate, unlike in 2016, when he blocked President Obama's nominee nine months ahead of the presidential election.

Some protesters said they had come to scream at McConnell's house because they hadn't received a call back from his office, and one woman said she was motivated by "disgust."

"I'm disgusted that Senator McConnell would treat this opportunity in a complete different manner than he treated the opportunity when there was a vacancy when Obama was nine or 10 months away from the election," Laura Johnsrude told the Courier Journal. "I'm not surprised, but I am disgusted. I think that's appalling."

The ugly practice of surrounding the homes of public figures has become commonplace in the Trump era. Most recently, the banana republic tactic was applied to Director of Homeland Security Chad Wolf. In July, a mob surrounded his Arlington, Va. home and used megaphones to make clear that, by enacting the Trump administration's policies, Wolf had forfeited the right to "live here quietly."

The mob tactics also threaten public figures when they're out in Washington or in their home districts and their locations are known to the public.

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Representative Brian Mast of Florida were surrounded by a mob outside of the Republican National Convention in Washington, D.C. last month. Paul and his wife were forced to wade through a sea of men and women screaming in their faces in order to reach their hotel.

Paul said afterwards that, if not for the police officers who formed a barricade around him and his wife, they would have been seriously injured and maybe even killed. And all of this took place before the people who surrounded Paul and his wife thought that the composition of the Supreme Court for a generation hung in the balance.

When lawmakers and members of an administration can't show their faces in public, something is deeply wrong. If the last few months are any indication, things will get much worse before they get better.

DOJ Will Label New York 'Anarchist Jurisdiction,' Threaten Federal Funds

The Justice Department will label New York City an "anarchist jurisdiction" along with Seattle, Wash., and Portland, Ore., threatening the federal funding of those cities, the New York Post reported on Monday.

The designation comes after President Trump signed a memo in early September ordering federal agencies to evaluate ways to redirect funds away from cities that have "permitted violence and the destruction of property" in the summer's mass demonstrations and riots. In particular, the memo ordered federal agencies to target cities that moved to slash police budgets. (NY Post)

Woman Suspected of Sending Ricin Letter to Trump Arrested

A Canadian woman suspected of sending an envelope containing the poison ricin to President Trump was arrested over the weekend as she attempted to enter the U.S. at the New York-Canada border.

The woman was in possession of a gun and taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the Peace Bridge border crossing near Buffalo. Her name has not been made public.

"An arrest was made of an individual allegedly responsible for sending a suspicious letter," the FBI said in a statement. "The investigation is ongoing."

The suspect is expected to face federal charges brought by the U.S. attorney's office in Washington.

Trump to Announce Supreme Court Pick on Friday or Saturday

President Trump promised on Monday to unveil his nomination for Supreme Court justice this coming weekend, following funeral services for Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

"We should wait for the services to be over for Justice Ginsburg" to make an announcement on the nomination, Trump told Fox and Friends on Monday. "So we're looking at probably Friday or maybe Saturday."

Trump's top choices for the nomination have been narrowed down to two justices, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. Those justices are Amy Coney Barrett, who currently sits on the Seventh Circuit Court in Chicago, and Barbara Lagoa of the Eleventh Circuit Court in Atlanta. Although Trump himself said Monday that five names remained on his short list. (WSJ)

Biden Says He Will Not Release Supreme Court List to Avoid Politicizing Court

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Sunday that he will not be releasing a list of potential Supreme Court nominees as President Trump has done because he wants to avoid politicizing the court.

"We can't ignore the cherished system of checks and balances. That includes this whole business of releasing a list of potential nominees that I would put forward," Biden said during a speech at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Sunday.

Susan Collins Says Republicans Should Wait to Vote on Supreme Court Replacement Until after Election

Senator Susan Collins (R., Maine) said Saturday she believes Republicans should hold off on voting to replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg until after the 2020 elections.

"In order for the American people to have in their elected officials, we must act fairly and consistently — no matter which political party is in power," Collins said in a statement posted to Twitter. "President Trump has the constitutional authority to make a nomination to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, and I would have no objection to the Senate Judiciary Committee's beginning the process of reviewing his nominee's credentials."