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Donate to an Abortion Fund Right Now The Senate just confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. It is just one month after she was nominated by Donald Trump. The presidential election is in one week. By now, you’ve likely heard Democrats and reproductive-rights activists sound the alarm on Barrett’s  views on abortion . Her record certainly indicates that  Roe  v.  Wade  could be imperiled with her confirmation to the court: She is supported by anti-choice fundraising organization the Susan B. Anthony List; she has given talks to multiple right-to-life groups at Notre Dame; she has signed a letter calling  Roe  “barbaric.” (During her confirmation hearing, she refused to comment directly on the ruling, demurring, “I can’t express views on cases. I can’t pre-commit.”) If  Roe  is overturned, lawmakers in 22 states could ban abortion outright, immediately. People in 11 more states are at risk of losing their right to abortion because it ...

Sen. Schatz: Barrett confirmation "the most rank hypocrisy I've ever seen" "We're not the world's greatest deliberative body. We're just a little factory that approves federal judges," Schatz said. "And that's how [Republican Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell wants it." There's "no legislating going on," the senator said. "But it's especially egregious when so many people need so much help," he added, describing the lives and jobs and businesses lost due to the health crisis. "And the highest priority for Mitch McConnell is stacking the courts." "It's not a trivial thing that you held up Merrick Garland," Schatz said, referring to the refusal by Senate Republican to take up President Barack Obama's nominee for the high court in 2016. "Inside of this body, we're supposed to care about stuff like that. Inside of this body, your word is supposed to count for stuff like ...

Supreme Court’s Vague Election Orders Are a 2020 Wild Card In the unbelievably complicated run-up to the 2020 elections, a variable we really aren’t used to seeing is frequent interventions in election law disputes by the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s largely a product of the  vast wave of litigation  by competing voting-rights and voting-suppression interest groups, mostly generated by adjustments in election procedures attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. But it’s made more frustrating by the fact that the Supreme Court’s involvement is via largely unexplained “orders” in response to “emergency” requests for rulings, which can make life difficult for lower courts and the contending parties. As Adam Liptak of the New York  Times   observes , we are in uncharted territory here: At least nine times since April, the Supreme Court has issued rulings in election disputes. Or perhaps “rulings” is too generous a word for those unsigned orders, which addressed matters as conse...

Gujarat HC starts live streaming of proceedings Proceedings were live on the YouTube link — provided on the Gujarat HC website — for over five hours and about half-a-dozen cases were heard. Around 68,324 viewers watched the channel on Monday. The first hearing that was live streamed on Monday was a plea seeking relief for admission to medical colleges through NEET for students who had not taken the Class 12 exam from Gujarat. (Getty Images/iStockphoto) The Gujarat high court on Monday became the first in the country to start live streaming proceedings on a YouTube channel, with the court of chief justice Vikram Nath accessible to the public through a link on the court’s official website. Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde said on Monday that in practice though, live streaming could be misused as already he was facing several complaints over the virtual hearings taking place over the videoconferencing app Vidyo. According to an administrative order issued by justice Nath, the live te...

Democrats urge Bloomberg to invest in Senate races as McConnell-linked super PAC spends big Democratic presidential candidate, former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg makes a stop at one of his campaign offices in the Little Havana neighborhood on March 3, 2020 in Miami, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty Images Democratic fundraisers are privately urging billionaire former presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg and his team to invest in hotly contested Senate races with just over a week until Election Day, according to people familiar with the matter. The pleas come as a super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell floods these races with cash on behalf of the GOP candidates. The Senate Leadership Fund, which is run by allies of McConnell, is outraising and often outspending its Democratic counterpart, Senate Majority PAC, down the stretch. The Democratic group is linked to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Bloomberg’s response to some people has not been encouraging, a...

Amy Coney Barrett will take questions Tuesday at Supreme Court confirmation hearings U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett speaks as she is sworn in during confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., October 12, 2020. Win McNamee | Pool | Reuters Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearings are set to enter into their next phase on Tuesday, with the 48-year-old nominee due to answer questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee in person for the first time since her nomination last month. Barrett is expected to take questions about her past statements on abortion and the role of precedent, her views on an upcoming case over the Affordable Care Act and whether she will recuse herself from litigation stemming from the upcoming election between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. The 22 senators on the committee, including 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats, will each get 30 minutes to ask Barrett questions...