memeorandum: McConnell: Trump's Supreme Court nominee ‘will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate’ (Brooke Singman/Fox News)

12:00 AM ET, September 19, 2020

Top Items:

Nina Totenberg / NPR:

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Champion Of Gender Equality, Dies At 87 — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the demure firebrand who in her 80s became a legal, cultural, and feminist icon has died. The Supreme Court announced her death, saying the cause was complications from cancer.

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Dies at 87 — “Our nation has lost a jurist of historic stature,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said in a statement. — WASHINGTON — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday of “complications of metastatic pancreas cancer,” the Supreme Court announced.

Discussion: Power Line, The Wrap, Yahoo Entertainment, Breitbart, Variety, The American Conservative, Labor 411 and IndieWire

ABC News:

Donald Trump to put forth nominee to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in coming days: Sources — The shortlist includes at least one woman, sources said. — Catch up on the developing stories making headlines. — Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images — President Donald Trump is expected …

Discussion: NBC News, Daily Kos and Balloon Juice

Washington Post:

McConnell says Senate will move to confirm Ginsburg replacement — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who refused to consider former president Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee in the months leading up to the 2016 election, vowed Friday to hold a vote on President Trump's nominee to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Discussion: Redstate, Vox, Mother Jones, Fox News, Townhall, The Moderate Voice, NPR, Associated Press, Las Vegas Review-Journal, The Hill, The Daily Beast, Big League Politics, Japan Times, New York Post, Washington Times and Althouse

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:

3 Big Ways RBG's Death Could Have An Immediate SCOTUS Impact — Even before it's determined whether President Trump will get to fill the seat left vacant by the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death, her absence could have a big impact on disputes already before or likely headed to the Supreme Court.

Discussion: Breitbart

Irin Carmon / New York Magazine:

The Glorious RBG I learned, while writing about her, that her precision disguised her warmth. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg used to instruct her clerks to get it right and keep it tight, so I'll try to do the same. Only someone so stubborn and single-minded, someone so in love with the work …

Brooke Singman / Fox News:

McConnell: Trump's Supreme Court nominee ‘will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate’ — Ginsburg, 87, died Friday from complications surrounding metastatic pancreas cancer — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said unequivocally Friday night that President Trump's …

Discussion: Vox, Bloomberg, Reason, The Hill, Washington Times, Just The News, Daily Kos and Mediaite

Axios:

Trump, McConnell to move fast to replace Ginsburg — President Trump will move within days to nominate his third Supreme Court justice in just three-plus short years — and shape the court for literally decades to come, top Republican sources tell Axios. — Driving the news …

Discussion: Politico, Mother Jones, BuzzFeed News, Poynter, Los Angeles Times, Mediaite, Raw Story, Bangor Daily News, Daily Kos, The American Independent and Twitchy

NBC News:

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at 87 — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court justice who was as pioneering as she was brash, died on Friday, the court said. She was 87. — Despite her diminutive stature, Ginsburg was larger than life, both on and off the bench.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Atlantic, Reuters, Fox News, Politico, The Hill, Vox, One America News Network, The Daily Beast, KFOR-TV, TMZ.com, Breitbart and NBC Bay Area

Linda Greenhouse / New York Times:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court's Feminist Icon, Is Dead at 87

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Mahablog

Kathleen Arberg / Supreme Court of the United States:
For Immediate Release — Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died this evening surrounded …

Discussion: Fox News, Washingtonian, Boston Herald, PARADE Magazine, The Hill, The Root and Breitbart

New York Times:
2020 Election Live Updates: In Minnesota, Biden Paints Trump as ‘Looking Down’ at the Middle Class

Discussion: Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Blue Virginia, Bangor Daily News, Washingtonian, Redstate, Twitchy and Denver Post

Rebecca Shabad / NBC News:
Schumer: Senate must not fill Ginsburg vacancy ‘until we have a new president’

Discussion: Politico, CBS News, Taylor Marsh and myfox8.com

Politico:
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at 87

Discussion: NBC News, Fox News, Washington Post, Reuters, Chicago Sun-Times, SCOTUSblog, The Pacific Northwest Inlander, ABC7, The Daily Beast, The Hill and TheBlaze

CNN:
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dead at 87

Discussion: BuzzFeed News, Redstate, Axios, Mother Jones, Reason and The Week

Bloomberg:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Second Woman on Supreme Court, Dies at 87

Discussion: WORLD, The Cain Gang, Slate, Mediaite, LAist and Alpha News

Devin Dwyer / ABC News:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, powerhouse Supreme Court Justice, dies at 87

Discussion: Redstate and FiveThirtyEight

New York Times:

A Deal on Drug Prices Undone by White House Insistence on ‘Trump Cards’ — The White House and the pharmaceutical industry were nearing a major deal to lower drug prices. Then the administration demanded that $100 cash cards be sent to millions of seniors before the election — and the industry balked.

Discussion: Axios, Raw Story, Mediaite and Mother Jones

Noah Weiland / New York Times:

Emails Detail Effort to Silence C.D.C. and Question Its Science — Emails from a former top Trump health official and his science adviser show how the two refused to accept Centers for Disease Control and Prevention science and sought to silence the agency.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, The Hill, Mediaite and Gothamist

Arizona Republic:

Mark Kelly could be sworn into the U.S. Senate early if he wins race, experts say — If Mark Kelly defeats incumbent Sen. Martha McSally in Arizona's high-stakes U.S. Senate race, he may not have to wait long to start work in Washington, D.C. — Two Republican and Democratic election attorneys agree …

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, The Hill and Political Wire

Gene Weingarten / Washington Post:

A neighbor asked for a tomato. This is where the story gets weird. — The following account is completely true, and, no, there is nothing funny about it. — I was on my laptop in the dining room of my rowhouse in downtown Washington, D.C., when someone rapped at the window.

Jamie Ross / The Daily Beast:

U.S. Admits That Congressman Offered Pardon to Assange If He Covered Up Russia Links — Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher offered Assange the deal in 2017, a year after the emails that damaged Hillary Clinton had been published. — LONDON—Lawyers representing the United States …

Discussion: One America News Network, The Gateway Pundit, Associated Press and Raw Story

Andrew MacAskill / Reuters:
Trump offered to pardon Assange if he provided source for Democratic emails, lawyer says

Discussion: The Guardian, NBC News, Associated Press, Bloomberg and Patterico's Pontifications

indystar:

Satchuel Cole, leader in the fight for racial equality in Indianapolis, lied about own race — Satchuel Cole, a highly visible community leader advocating for racial and social justice in Indiana, has apologized for misleading people about Cole's own race, saying “I have taken up space as a Black person while knowing I am white.”

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Tom Batchelor / Newsweek:

Hundreds of Heavily-Armed Gun Activists Surround Michigan State Capitol — Hundreds of pro-gun activists have demonstrated at Michigan's State Capitol in support of the right to open-carry firearms inside the government building. — Heavily-armed protestors, some waving Confederate flags …

Discussion: MLive.com and The Hill

Task & Purpose:

New emails reveal the chaotic final days of Brett Crozier's command of the USS Theodore Roosevelt — The situation was so dire on the USS Theodore Roosevelt that by March 30 leaders on the coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier found themselves “inside a tornado fighting a war,” …

Discussion: San Francisco Chronicle

Erin Coates / The Cain Gang:

Police Haul Man Out of Library for Not Wearing Mask During Meeting About Wearing Masks — A man was physically removed from a school board meeting in Mitchell, South Dakota, on Monday night because he refused to wear a protective face covering. — Reed Bender had attended meetings in the past …

Matthew Choi / Politico:

Trump at Minnesota rally: Biden will turn state into a ‘refugee camp’ — President Donald Trump said his Democratic rival Joe Biden would “turn Minnesota into a refugee camp” and bragged about deporting Somali nationals, sharpening his play for the battleground state during a Friday rally.

Discussion: Fox News, Washington Post, Power Line, Breitbart, New York Post, 6abc, Star Tribune, Washington Times, Newsy, courthousenews.com, IJR, Mediaite and CBS Philly

Timothy P. Carney / Washington Examiner:
Biden's fact-free ‘Park Avenue vs. Scranton’ line: A reminder that the major media will never fact-check Biden

Discussion: Breitbart, Townhall and The Daily Beast

Washington Post:

Virginians come out in force to cast ballots on the first day of early voting — Voters stood in line for up to four hours in the Northern Virginia suburbs on Friday to cast ballots in a bitterly contested presidential election, turning out in force on the first day of early voting …

Discussion: Common Dreams, Axios and electionlawblog.org

Colby Itkowitz / Washington Post:
Trump campaign manager didn't vote for his boss in 2016 — or at all

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Hill

Christopher Ingraham / Washington Post:

The United States is backsliding into autocracy under Trump, scholars warn — The weakening of democratic values — a path that's difficult to reverse — has accelerated, according to hundreds of indicators assessed each year — Three years into the Trump administration …

Associated Press:

Judge: Michigan must count absentee ballots that arrive late — A judge has cleared the way for more absentee ballots to be counted in Michigan — FBI director says there is little evidence for potential mass voter fraud — While he says there is little evidence for mail-in voter fraud …

Discussion: detroitnews, Detroit Free Press, Michigan Advance, Breitbart, Fox News, The Daily Caller, POLITICUSUSA and Washington Post

New York Times:

A Danish Children's TV Show Has This Message: ‘Normal Bodies Look Like This’ — The program aims to counter social media that bombards young people with images of perfect bodies. — COPENHAGEN — “OK, children, does anyone have a question?” the TV show's host, Jannik Schow, asked.

Discussion: New York Post, Twitchy, The Daily Caller and Townhall

Katie Shepherd / Washington Post:

An Idaho ‘no-masker’ pastor prayed against a mask mandate. He's now in intensive care for covid-19. — When coronavirus cases began increasing in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in late July, Pastor Paul Van Noy prayed with his congregation that the city council would not pass a mask mandate.

Discussion: NBC News, Mediaite and CNN

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

A White House Aide Just Warned Us That Donald Trump Is a Sociopath — A procession of former Trump administration officials, speaking both on and off the record, have depicted the president as fundamentally unfit for office. Yesterday, the latest addition to their ranks …

Discussion: Common Dreams, The Guardian and GovExec.com

Politico:

State Dept. provides House Dems docs previously given to Ron Johnson's Biden probe — The State Department on Friday turned over 16,000 pages of documents to a House committee that were previously given to Senate Republicans investigating Joe and Hunter Biden — providing Democrats …

Discussion: The Hill

Washington Post:

This new pro-Trump talking point is one of their most cynical lies yet — Because Mitch McConnell is one of the most cynical and dishonest figures in American public life, he has dreamed up a new way to spin away Russian electoral interference that may be even more absurd than anything President Trump has conjured up.

Discussion: WGN Radio 720, New York Times and The Hill

Abby Livingston / The Texas Tribune:

Republican U.S. House campaign arm cancels $2 million in Houston-area advertising — The region is home to multiple competitive races, including Congressional District 7 where Republicans are seeking to unseat U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher — WASHINGTON - The National Republican Congressional Committee …

Discussion: Political Wire

NBC News:

Trump announces aid for Puerto Rico, infusing politics in an apparent play for Florida voters — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Friday he is sending $13 billion in disaster aid to Puerto Rico, an unexpected move years after a hurricane devastated the island and 45 days before the election …

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, New York Times, Breitbart, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, BuzzFeed News and Reuters

Nick Niedzwiadek / Politico:

Trump hits FBI director again over testimony on antifa, Russia — President Donald Trump on Friday expressed further dissatisfaction with FBI Director Christopher Wray over testimony he gave to Congress on foreign and domestic threats and did not rule out the possibility of replacing him.

Discussion: IJR, Fox News, Breitbart, Washington Post, Forbes, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, The Hill, New York Post, Washington Times and Mediaite

Andrew Sullivan / The Weekly Dish:

We Are All Algorithms Now — Is that what's really destroying the legitimacy of our democracy? — I've never felt this way about an election before. For my entire adult life, campaigns could be exhilarating, tedious, crowded with incident or laden with foreboding, but you always felt that …