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      Holy war: Republicans eager to focus Amy Coney Barrett hearings on religion

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      When Donald Trump’s latest supreme court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, arrives before the Senate judiciary committee for her confirmation hearings on Monday, Democrats will be out to raise an alarm that Barrett could help strike down the Affordable Care Act in the very first case she hears.But in the weeks leading up to the hearings, Republicans have been out for something else entirely: a holy war.The future of the supreme court hinges on the Barrett hearings. But the hearings will be backgrounded by a political fight over religion that is potentially as important as the question of whether Barrett replaces Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late liberal justice, on the court.If Republicans can make it look like Democrats are attacking Barrett, a conservative Catholic, for her religious views, they believe, that could stir enough political anger to rescue a couple of tight Senate races in the elections on 3 November – and potentially save the teetering Republican Senate majority.Democrats hope to defeat the Barrett nomination on the merits.But they also hope to take control of the Senate next month, claim the White House, and then pass a bulwark of laws on key issues – healthcare, reproductive rights, marriage equality, voting rights, the climate emergency – to withstand what could be decades of tendentious rulings by a supreme court with as many as three Trump-appointed justices on it.The current Senate judiciary committee chair, Lindsey Graham, who happens to be among the most endangered Republican incumbents, explained the Republican strategy last month on Fox News, saying Democratic protests over credible sexual assault allegations against Trump’s supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh helped Republicans in the 2018 midterm elections.“Kavanaugh really did help Republicans pick up Senate seats because they went too far,” Graham said.In a transparent attempt to whip up a comparable spectacle around the Barrett nomination, Senate Republicans have produced an ominous video featuring tense footage from the Kavanaugh hearings and accusing Democrats of a “radical power plot” to attack Barrett over her religious beliefs.But prominent Democrats have urged a minimum of pageantry during the Barrett hearings and a focus on Barrett’s views on the healthcare law, abortion, same-sex marriage and other issues.“It is going to be really important to not give Lindsey Graham and the rest of the Republicans a moment of righteous vindication over a circus-like atmosphere,” the former Democratic senator Claire McCaskill said on a popular politics podcast this week.“So I just think this is one of those times when some of our most passionate supporters that are so angry on behalf of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, that they’ve got to realize that there is a better way than flooding the halls with women in handmaid costumes.”To protest against the Barrett nomination earlier this month, activists stood outside the supreme court wearing red robes and white bonnets, recognizable from the TV series based on the Margaret Atwood novel of female subjugation, The Handmaid’s Tale.Democrats should focus on the threat posed to healthcare by Barrett, who in 2017 published a critique of Chief Justice John Roberts’ 2012 ruling to uphold the Affordable Care Act, said Ben Jealous, president of the progressive People for the American Way group. On 10 November, just one week after the election, the supreme court is scheduled to hear a separate case that could vacate the law.“The confirmation hearings have to be all about what the nomination is about: destroying healthcare for millions of Americans,” Jealous said. “Anybody who wants to make this about a nominee’s personality, or even the life they’ve lived so far, is missing the point.”Democrats on the committee acknowledge they do not currently have the votes to stop the nomination from moving forward, and Senator Cory Booker said last week that procedural stalling measures would not work – because the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, could merely change the rules to keep the nomination on track.Progressives must not write off the Ginsburg seat as lost, however, said Neil Sroka of the progressive Democracy for America group. More

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      Lindsey Graham, reverse ferret: how John McCain's spaniel became Trump's poodle

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      Opinion

      US Senate

      Lindsey Graham, reverse ferret: how John McCain’s spaniel became Trump’s poodle

      Sidney Blumenthal

      On Monday, the senator who praised Hillary and helped get the Steele dossier to the FBI will preside over a hearing for Amy Coney Barrett, a nominee to tilt the supreme court right for years to come. His is a quintessential Washington tale More

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      Amy Coney Barrett: quick confirmation under threat as three senators infected

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      Senate Republicans are facing a shrinking window of time before the November 3 election to confirm Donald Trump’s supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, following the news that at least three Republican senators have tested positive for the coronavirus and more are quarantining after likely exposure.Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader and Republican from Kentucky, on Saturday morning said he would seek consent from Democrats to cancel any action on the main floor of the Senate for the next two weeks, until 19 October.But the Senate judiciary committee, which must vote on the nomination first, will still convene as planned on 12 October to begin the confirmation hearing process for Barrett, he said. While senators have attended recent hearings remotely, Democrats have said there is bipartisan opposition for allowing them to do so for something as high profile as a supreme court nomination that could determine the ideological tilt of the court.In a letter on Saturday, top Democrats on the committee said that to “proceed at this juncture with a hearing to consider Judge Barrett’s nomination to the supreme court threatens the health and safety of all those who are called upon to do the work of this body”. Many of the senators on the committee are older and have other risk factors for Covid-19.Republicans are trying to advance Barrett’s nomination as quickly as possible to replace the court’s progressive champion Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last month.This despite refusing to consider Barack Obama’s pick for a supreme court justice in an election year in 2016.Republican leaders are concerned that if they lose their majority in the Senate in the November election, and if Trump loses the White House, it will be harder to confirm a conservative nominee during the lame-duck session before former vice president Joe Biden could enter office in January 2021.Utah senator Mike Lee and North Carolina senator Thom Tillis, both of whom sit on the judiciary panel, tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday and will quarantine for 10 days, until the committee meeting.Both had attended an event at the White House announcing Barrett’s nomination last Saturday. Multiple attendees of the event, including Trump, his wife Melania, former White House counsel Kellyanne Conway and Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor and a Trump adviser, have now tested positive.Without Lee and Tillis’s votes, Barrett’s committee approval could be in jeopardy. Democrats could refuse to attend the meeting, denying Republicans the total number of lawmakers required to send the nomination to the full floor.A third Republican senator on the committee, Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, who is 87, was also at a hearing last week with Lee. But Grassley’s office argues his doctors have not recommended he be tested and don’t believe he has been in close contact with anyone suspected of having or confirmed to have the coronavirus. At the hearings, senators sit far apart, although neither Grassley nor Lee wore a mask when speaking.McConnell said the judiciary committee has been meeting since May with some senators present and some participating virtually.“Certainly all Republican members of the committee will participate in these important hearings,” he said, of the supreme court confirmation process, which, if completed, would tilt the court dramatically to the right.Wisconsin Republican senator Ron Johnson, who is not on the committee, has also contracted the coronavirus. He did not attend the White House event last Saturday because he was already isolating following a different potential exposure.Senate Republicans meet several times a week for a caucus lunch, where they sit in a large room and remove their masks. All three of the senators who have tested positive were at those lunches last week, according to CNN.If at least three Republican senators are too ill to appear in person to confirm Barrett, the party leadership may not have enough votes.Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and Mike Pence, the vice-president, could break a tie. Two Republicans, Maine’s Susan Collins and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, have said they will not confirm a nominee before the election. More

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      'We are living the issues': record number of women of color run for Congress

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      The US presidential election may be dominated by two older white men, but away from the battle for the White House a record number of women of color are running for Congress in 2020 – as US politics continues to be dragged, slowly, towards being representative of the country’s population.In November, 117 women of color are running for Congress as Democrats or Republicans. And a record 298 women in total are running for the House of Representatives on a major party ticket, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.The new high builds on 2018’s midterm elections, when a historic number of women won seats in the House. Among that number are 61 Black women, 32 Latina women, and six Native American women – record numbers for each group.In the Senate, 20 women are running as Democrats or Republicans, a decrease from 2018, but overall, the US is seeing a rising trend.“This year’s numbers are a positive sign that 2018 wasn’t necessarily an anomaly,” said Kelly Dittmar, director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics.“What this year also points to positively is a continued diversification of the women who are running for office and who are getting nominations.”Women are almost 50% of Democratic nominees this year, Dittmar said. They make up a much smaller proportion of Republican nominees – although the GOP has seen a spike in female candidates compared with previous years.Here are just a few of the women to watch in November:Candace ValenzuelaIf Candace Valenzuela can win in Texas’s 24th congressional district, she would become the first Black Latina in Congress. The district has been represented by a Republican since 2005, but Democrats have a real chance of flipping it in November.“We’re seeing trailblazing women of color step up and run for office all across the country,” Valenzuela told the Guardian.“But women like me aren’t running to be the ‘first’, we’re running to serve our communities, by lowering healthcare costs, stopping the spread of this virus, and getting folks back to work safely.”A former school board representative, Valenzuela has been endorsed by the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and progressive and centrist Democrats alike. She faces the Republican candidate Beth Van Duyne, whom Trump has endorsed.“I ran for my local school board to ensure every north Texan has access to the opportunities that enabled me to overcome childhood homelessness and become the first in my family to go to college,” Valenzuela said.As we see more women and women of color running for and winning seats in office, we’re seeing the focus of our elected officials shiftCandace Valenzuela“As I fought for my community, I saw the opportunities that lifted me up were, and continue to be, under attack by Donald Trump and the corporate special interests that dominate his administration.”In a campaign ad, Valenzuela recalls sleeping in a children’s swimming pool outside a gas station after the family fled domestic abuse. She believes she can better represent people who might be struggling.“It’s time that the folks in power reflect the communities they serve. As we see more women and women of color running for and winning seats in office, we’re seeing the focus of our elected officials shift towards working families and the challenges they face.”Marquita BradshawMarquita Bradshaw’s victory in Tennessee’s Senate Democratic primary was scarcely believable, given the relative pittance she spent during her campaign. Bradshaw spent less than $10,000 – James Mackler, an attorney endorsed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, spent $1.5m.She became the first Black woman to be a major party nominee for statewide office in Tennessee, and the only Black woman running as a Democrat or Republican for Senate.“Black women have been the heart of the Democratic party for years,” Bradshaw told the Guardian.“We vote our values but with the increasing social tensions and awareness, Black women knew it was time to step into our power. For too long, we have been kept out of the conversation.“But we are living the issues – racism, classism, sexism. I am living the issues. Black women are the cornerstones of their communities, active in churches, schools, healthcare. Our voices need to be heard and collectively, we are taking the leap.”Bradshaw is an environmental activist who supports the progressive Green New Deal, and she said the toxic damage from a military depot in her hometown of Memphis birthed her activism.For all the progress in making Congress more diverse, women still only make up about 25% of the body – something Bradshaw said must change.“It is necessary for the demographics of the Senate to represent the demographics of the country. It’s the only way to level the playing field,” she said.It is necessary for the demographics of the Senate to represent the demographics of the countryMarquita Bradshaw“Women experience the world in different ways than men. We are the caretakers and nurturers. We will introduce bills that support the environmental, educational, and economic wellbeing of our country. It’s all connected. We can’t address one without the other and we can’t fix one without fixing them all.”Bradshaw faces another uphill battle in November. Her Republican opponent, Bill Hagerty has tied his fortunes to Donald Trump in the election – the president won Tennessee by 26 points in 2016. The last Democrat elected to the US Senate in Tennessee was Al Gore in 1990.Cori BushBush, a nurse and ordained pastor, broke a decades-long legacy when she defeated Lacy Clay in the Democratic primary for Missouri’s 1st congressional district. Clay has represented the district since 2001, having taken over the seat from his father, Bill Clay, who had been in office since 1969.Bush rose to prominence in Missouri as an activist against police brutality in Ferguson, after Michael Brown was shot dead by a police officer in 2014. In an interview with the Guardian in August, Bush said she feared for the safety of her children following the history of police killings of black people.“With the climate of our country and our world I worry about my children. My son is 20 years old, he is taller than me. He’s a black boy. I worry about [him], every single day. Every minute of the day. I’m not exaggerating,” Bush said. More

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      in Elections

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