The fight for the Supreme Court adds a surprising twist to the election

Power struggle in the US for the relief of Judge Ginsburg 3:23

(CNN) - The

United States is entering the latest political stress test, with the most divisive partisan collisions, with a surprising twist with a battle in the Supreme Court, and a presidential election.

All this in the midst of a pandemic that is getting worse again and that, at this moment, is about to take its 200,000th American life.

President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans spent the weekend playing an aggressive power play to try to solidify an unassailable generational majority in the nation's top bank, possibly even before an election that is only 43 days away. .

Meanwhile, Democrats are mobilizing to maximize what they see as potential benefits in the fight for the nomination for Joe Biden's campaign.

Also to prevent the president from using the sudden confirmation fight to divert attention from his disastrous mismanagement of the novel coronavirus emergency.

The confrontation is heating up with some Americans already participating in early and absentee voting, and just a week before the first critical presidential debate between the president and the former vice president in Ohio.

• ANALYSIS |

  Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death could reshape elections

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US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg pictured in Washington in 2013. She was the second woman to be in the highest court of Justice.

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She was born on March 15, 1933 as Joan Ruth Bader.

In this photo she was two years old.

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She met her husband, Martin, while attending Cornell University, and they both studied law.

They got engaged in December 1953.

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She was the first woman hired as an incumbent at Columbia University School of Law.

She also taught at Rutgers University.

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President Bill Clinton appointed Ginsuburg to the US Supreme Court in June 1993. Here he is holding a photo of Hillary Clinton singing the "toothbrush song" with Ginsburg's granddaughter Clara.

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During his confirmation hearing, Ginsburg holds up a book titled "My Grandma is Very Special" written by Paul Spera, his grandson.

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Ginsburg is sworn in on the Supreme Court before Attorney General William Rehnquist in August 1993.

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Ginsburg poses with his family on the Supreme Court in October 1993.

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Ginsuburg, second from left, appeared in the opening night production of "Ariadne auf Naxos," an opera at the Kennedy Center in 1994.

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Ginsburg and Judge Sandra Day O'Connor hold balls given to them by the U.S. women's basketball team in December 1995.

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Ginsburg, front right, poses with other prominent Jewish Americans on Ellis Island in 1996. The image is part of a project by photographer Frederic Brenner.

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Ginsburg poses with President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice at the State Department on January 28, 2005, when he was sworn in.

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Ginsburg served on the Supreme Court in 2007 in a "Super Diva" hoodie.

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Ginsubur arrives at a session of Congress in which President Barack Obama was speaking in 2009. That month she had undergone surgery and treatment for an early stage of pancreatic cancer.

A decade earlier, she had received successful surgery for colon cancer.

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The only women to become Supreme Court justices pose in 2010. From left to right: Sandra Day O'Connor, Sonia Sotomayor, Ginsburg and Elena Kagan.

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While waiting to receive an honorary degree from Harvard University, Ginsburg is surprised by a serenade by Placido Domingo in 2011.

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Ginsburg talks to Hilarry Clinton at the State Department in Washington in 2012.

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The US Supreme Court, with its newest member Brett Kavanaugh, poses for an official portrait in Washington in November 2018.

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Ginsburg makes his first public appearance after it was announced in August 2019 that he had received treatment for pancreatic cancer.

It was during the acceptance of an honorary degree at the University at Buffalo.

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Ginsburg participates in a discussion on the 19th Amendment at Georgetown University in February 2020. It is the amendment that guarantees the vote of women in America.

Ginsburg's death

The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 18 injected an extraordinary new dimension into what was already shaping up to be the most contentious election in decades.

Her passing also sparked an even more divisive than normal battle for a replacement.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing to confirm a choice Trump can make in a few days even though he refused to go ahead with then-President Barack Obama's candidate, Merrick Garland, many months before. of the 2016 election. At the time, McConnell said voters should decide the fate of the Court when choosing a new president.

But McConnell turned his back on his own fabricated government with a Republican in the White House.

This Republican hypocrisy led to an absurd spectacle on Sunday talk shows of legislators and officials trying to explain their own falsehood.

The Republican Party won't mind, however, as this election will likely enshrine a decades-long conservative majority with the ability to shape vast areas of American life, from voting and gender rights to environmental regulation and social affairs. of big companies.

The Court could also become an obstacle for future Democratic presidents.

Trump relished his opportunity to appoint his third Supreme Court Justice at a rally in North Carolina on Saturday night.

"It will be a woman, a very talented and very bright woman," Trump said.

"I haven't chosen yet, but we have a lot of women on the list."

Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Most Memorable Speeches 2:44

The split in the Republican Party

Among the president's top picks, according to CNN reports, are Amy Coney Barrett, who was previously selected by Trump to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

There's also Barbara Lagoa, whom he appointed to the 11th US Circuit of Appeals in 2019. Lagoa is Hispanic and from Florida and could be a good fit with Trump's re-election strategy, which hinges on him winning vital decisive status. .

Biden took advantage of McConnell's impudence in an effort to argue that the Republicans, who won the Presidency despite losing the popular vote, are embroiled in an extreme power grab and must be controlled.

"Don't do that," Biden told Republican senators on Sunday.

“Do your constitutional duty, with your conscience, let the people speak.

Put out the flames that have been engulfing our country.

We cannot keep rewriting history.

Two Republicans - Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Senator Susan Collins, who is locked in a fierce fight for reelection in Maine - have already said they are opposed to accepting Trump's appointment before the election, leaving McConnell behind. almost no margin for error if you want to fulfill Trump's desire to vote before the election.

She can only afford to lose one more Republican senator and still confirm the election before November 3, with a tiebreaker vote from Vice President Mike Pence.

The exact dynamics within the Senate Republican Party will become clearer later this week when the House returns to work and members gather for their policy lunch.

• Trump Announces He Will Nominate A Woman For Vacancy On The US Supreme Court

Pandemic complicates Trump's reelection drive

Biden plans to turn the Supreme Court duel into a new platform for his assault on the president on health care, sources told CNN.

The approach will also allow him to tap into criticism of Trump's performance in the pandemic.

The Court is already scheduled to hear oral arguments in the administration's latest attempt to end Obamacare, the week after the election.

Democrats will argue that the new judge could finally help seal the fate of the law and crush popular provisions like a ban on denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

The president swung sharply toward the new Supreme Court battle after a week in which he was increasingly desperate to deviate from the pandemic.

This included misleading and often false accounts, for example, of the speed with which Americans can expect a vaccine to be needed to end the disaster.

Scientists reject participation in CDC guideline 0:41

Coronavirus cases continue to rise

Trump's claims that the country has overcome the virus are being completely disproved by data showing a growing number of coronavirus cases and deaths averaging around 800 daily. The number of deaths from covid-19 in the United States is at about to surpass the staggering 200,000 barrier.

And in his new book, Bob Woodward suggested that the president understood the seriousness of the disease in February, but refused to open up to the country.

Some experts say this may have potentially caused tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths.

Trump's hopes of speaking out on anything other than the pandemic appear slim given the worsening situation.

The number of new covid-19 cases has increased by at least 10% in 31 states, during the last week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The test's positivity rate is increasing in 25 states, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

This was pointed out by experts who warned of their fears of a post-Labor Day increase.

Republicans deny allegations of hypocrisy

As many gathered on the Supreme Court to pay tribute to Ginsburg, the White House was embarking on a plan to put in his replacement, and a conservative 6-3 majority.

"Judge Ginsburg was confirmed 43 days after her appointment," Vice President General Secretary Marc Short told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday.

Although actually 50 days have passed since the presidential announcement.

"Today we sat here, 44 days before the elections, so it is certainly possible," he said, referring to the possibilities of having a new judge on the bench by November 3.

"But I think the obligation of the president is to make the appointment.

We will leave the calendar to leader McConnell.

Republican senators rejected allegations of hypocrisy when asked about the tactics of McConnell, who has made reshaping the federal judiciary a priority for his leadership in the Senate.

Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso voiced his expectations for a quick confirmation on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.

«The president is going to make an appointment.

I think it will be this week.

And Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, will lead the hearing.

And there will be a vote in the plenary session of the United States Senate this year.

If Republicans cannot pass a vote before the election, it could lead to a massive political conflagration if Democrats win the Presidency and regain the Senate.

So they have to figure out how to confirm a new judge in a McConell-led session with a powerless president.

Who should appoint a judge?

These possibilities are generating a treacherous policy for both sides before the elections.

Trump, for example, clearly hopes a Supreme Court fight will supercharge his political base.

And so send an overwhelming wave of conservatives to vote.

But there is also the possibility that the Supreme Court battle will backfire on the president.

It could boost liberal turnout among voters who fear, for example, that the new conservative majority will seek to limit or even ban the right to abortion.

A prolonged fight on this issue before the election may further weaken Trump's already compromised position among suburban voters.

A new Reuters-Ipsos poll, conducted on Saturday and Sunday, found that 62% of Americans agreed that the winner of the election should name Ginsburg's replacement.

But the poll also pointed to partisan divisions and public uncertainty.

46% of those surveyed agreed that Trump should appoint a replacement before his term ends.

The audacity of the president and McConnell is also fueling Democratic intensity over what many in the party will view as two stolen Supreme Court seats.

Former President Bill Clinton said on CNN's "State of the Union" that for "Senator McConnell and President Trump, their first value is power.

And they are trying to fill the Court with as many ideological judges as they can.

"You cannot maintain a democracy if there is one set of rules for one group and another for everyone else," Clinton said.

United States Supreme Court