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Fight To Replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg On Supreme Court; Ginsburg To Lie In Repose At Supreme Court Wednesday And Thursday; Update On Coronavirus Responses Around The World; Principal Chrissy Cox Discusses Coronavirus Complicating Back-To-School Season. Aired 11:30a-12p ET
Aired September 21, 2020 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[11:32:29]
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: A third Trump justice on the Supreme Court would tilt the court to a clear 6-3 conservative majority.
Obamacare would likely be declared unconstitutional. And issues ranging from abortion to climate change and business regulation would be in the hands of a clear conservative majority.
The president sees both a chance to cement his first-term legacy and perhaps help him win a second term. He promised to nominate a woman. And wants the Senate to confirm his pick before the November election, 43 days from now.
Three prominent women, all federal judges, lead his list, Amy Coney Barrett, Barbara Lagoa and Allison Jones Rushing.
Here with me to discuss, Joan Biskupic, our Supreme Court biographer, is back with us. And Steve Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law.
I want to get to the big legal issues in a second.
But, Joan, we have additional issues. You reported the main pieces of it that Justice Ginsburg will lie in repose at the court later this week.
JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Yes, John. And I wanted to add to that, if anybody is viewing and wonders whether the public will have an opportunity to participate, the answer is yes.
She will -- the casket will be brought to the court. There will be a private ceremony in the great hall with her family.
But then the casket will be outside under a portico and the public will be invited to view and pay their respects on Wednesday and Thursday.
They have got times from, you know, 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., roughly, on Wednesday. And Thursday, a little bit earlier and going into the evening. Don't hold me to the precise times.
But I wanted to make sure you knew they were doing something very unprecedented here to have Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg there. She will lie in repose. And there's a way that the public can pay its respects.
And just one other piece, there will be a private internment next week. Again, that will not be open to the public. I just wanted to close the chapter for you on that.
KING: Stand by, Joan.
Now I want to get so some of the legal issues.
A quick point, I stopped by the court yesterday after the Sunday show and it's remarkable. Thousands of people have come to leave notes and drop flowers.
And to say it's just a truly remarkable scene that a Supreme Court justice has captured the country's attention like this.
Steve Vladeck, I want to talk about long-term and short-term issues. But I want to do a short-term one first.
Listen to the president of the United States. Part of the rationale for the president of the United States to say I'm going to make this pick and I want the Senate to confirm this person before the election.
Listen.
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[11:34:58:]
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (voice-over): The bottom line is we won the election. We have an obligation to do what's right and act as quickly as possible.
We should act quickly because we're going to have probably election things involved here.
And we want to have nine justices. And we want to have somebody with a lot of talented added to the very talented people we already have on both sides.
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KING: So help me, Steve. You're an expert on legal ethics. The president put it out there plainly, we need nine justices because we're likely to have election challenges.
This could be Bush v. Gore all over again, whether it's absentee ballots, whether it's other things. The president put it publicly out.
Doesn't the book tell you, that since the president has now publicly made it an issue, that the recommendation would be any justice confirmed under such circumstances should recuse him or herself. Am I wrong about that?
STEPHEN VLADECK, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No, I mean, John, as you know, the Supreme Court is not bound by any explicit ethical rules.
But, yes, I would have to think any justice who had the kind of integrity we expect of all of our judges on the highest court in the land would look at a case like that and not want to touch it with a 10-foot pole.
John, remember, as recently as four years ago, this was the argument that Democrats made about why Merrick Garland deserved the vote before the 2016 election. Republicans then didn't buy it.
You know, I think the court can function with eight. And in this context the court would have to function with eight because justices in that position, John, would have no choice but to recuse.
KING: We'll see. I think that's what all the guidelines and constitutional scholars would say as we've learned in the three-plus years of the Trump administration, sometimes so what, when it comes to rules and norms.
Let's look at the bigger issues here.
America, whatever your views at home, this is an incredibly consequential moment.
I'm not sure we can exaggerate the moment in terms of what a young Trump -- younger court with three Trump justices it, a 6-3 conservative majority.
We can show you the current court. And in this court it's a 5-4 conservative majority.
But John Roberts has gone back and forth and actually alienated a number of conservatives at times on issues like abortion, on issues like Obamacare. He has tried to be with the Democrats so that there's not too much turmoil in the country.
That's his view of conservatism. Don't send too much turmoil into the country.
But if you have a 6-3 majority, Obamacare, almost certainly thrown out.
Right, Joan?
Religious liberty versus gay rights issues. The conservatives would have six votes, not be questioning where John Roberts is going to end up. Abortion rights and environmental regulations and voting rights rules.
This would be a new America in terms of legal perspective from the court. BISKUPIC: Well, John, I agree that this will definitely be a new
America in terms of the Supreme Court. It's going to affect the law for our children and our grandchildren.
But I don't -- I wouldn't say outright that the Affordable Care Act would be completely thrown out. I would hedge a little bit on that.
You know, some -- when Justice Kennedy retired in 2018, several people predict that had immediately "Roe v. Wade" would be overturned. Sometimes these things take a while.
But I don't want to diminish your main point that the law in America has been transformed.
And I also want to emphasize a point about the youthfulness of the Trump appointees. He's looking at people who are in their late 30s and 40s.
When Clarence Thomas came on in 1991, he was only 43 years old. He's now serving just about 30 years, and then some. He'll probably keep going for a while.
So this is not something that will affect just our immediate cases like the Affordable Care Act, but it's -- it's going to set the law of the land for generations.
KING: And, Steve, to follow-up on that point, when Kennedy retired it made Roberts a much more influential person on court. He's the chief justice, but with the swing vote of Kennedy gone, Roberts becomes more important.
If President Trump gets another appointment, is Roberts less important, even though he still has the title?
VLADECK: Absolutely, John. I think there's no question that we'll see a lot more 6-3 majority opinions where the only role the chief plays is in deciding who writes is as opposed to the last where, in every single major case, the key vote, the swing vote was Chief Justice.
John, we haven't seen a court this conservative since the New Deal. We haven't seen an appointment to the court that moved the court so sharply to the right since, as Joan mentioned, Justice Thomas was appointed to replace Thurgood Marshall.
This is why everybody's dander is up. It's not just that the election is two months away. It's that everyone understands the stakes of filling this particular seat at this moment in American history.
KING: It's fascinating. And because that have controversial moment and we will continue the conversation.
Joan Biskupic, Steve Vladeck, grateful for your time and important insights. Again, we'll continue this conversation.
[11:40:39]
Still ahead to us, back to the coronavirus. The British health minister warning the U.K. now at another tipping point.
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KING: There are new global concerns about the rise of the coronavirus, including Lebanon, which reported its highest daily number of new infections in just the last 24 hours.
Let's check in with our CNN correspondents around the world for global headlines.
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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in the U.K., British health officials say that the coronavirus panning democratic has turned the coroner a bad way, meaning things are getting worse just as President Trump says that the virus in his country is going in the opposite direction.
[11:45:04]
Last week, the U.K. imposed limits on social gatherings. But a week later, it's not so clear whether or not that has had an impact or not.
Health officials announced that the virus was doubling every seven days moaning if that trajectory were to continue, in just a month, the U.K. would some 50,000 cases per day, more even than the U.S.
To avoid that, the government says it is stepping up enforcement of the rules that do exist, primarily quarantine where enforcement has been lax if there's been any at all.
The government says it will pay lower-income people in order to self- isolate and impose fines on those who don't.
The health secretary warned Brits to follow the results that are in place right now or prepare for them to get much stricter. In fact, they didn't even rule out the possibility of a second national lockdown.
Scott McLean, CNN, London.
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sweden has confirmed its plan to when a coronavirus vaccine becomes available. There will be a national voluntary scheme targeting adults, particularly the elderly and vulnerable.
And children might be expected to vaccinate at least in the first phase. That's because the Swedish national health agency says there's no data that suggests that children spread the virus.
They also believe a voluntary scheme for adults will be enough because there was such a high uptake of vaccination during the 2009 swine flu pandemic.
Some families though remain wary of any new vaccinations because, in 2009, there was a side effect to one swine flu vaccination medication and that was narcolepsy. More than 400 people had to be compensated in the end in Sweden.
Max Foster, CNN.
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here in France, another record rise over the course of the weekend in the number of new cases of coronavirus.
This, as the city of Paris and the wider region sees a worrying rise in the number of people entering ICUs as well.
Over the course of the last three weeks an 89 percent rise in the number of people getting into intensive care for the greater Paris region.
This is something we've seen repeated in a number of big urban centers in the European continent.
As people have gone back to school and back to work, the number of new cases rising, the number of people getting into hospital also rising. And authorities are trying to take new steps to stop that.
In Spain, Madrid has announced part of the city under a partial lockdown. Six southern districts of Madrid are, from today, under lockdown. And 850,000 people who will be confined to their homes.
And this is something you're likely to see repeated in other places. Several governments have announced, for economic reasons, they don't want to consider another national lockdown.
Cities though, like here in France, have been handed authority for fixing their new rules. The model that we've seen in Madrid could be something we see repeated again.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
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KING: Up next for us, we'll check in with an elementary school principal one month after doors reopened.
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[11:52:01]
KING: The back to school coronavirus disruption, a persistent challenge for kids, for parents and for teachers. As of September 10th, nearly 755,000 children have been infected. And fear of the virus spreading has made remote learning the new normal for many American school children.
Joining me now, Chrissy Cox. She's the principal for Denman Elementary in Quincy, Illinois.
It's good to see you again.
We visited with you just when you were beginning this experiment. You're a month in now. How's it going?
CHRISSY COX, PRINCIPAL, DENMAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Really well. We did increase our remote learning numbers from 20 percent to 23 percent. But overall, the things we have put in place are working.
And I definitely credit my staff and our leadership for making sure that that's happening, that things are going well.
KING: We have pictures inside the classrooms here and showing them.
COX: Sure.
KING: What has been the -- is the biggest challenge, the challenge you thought it would be, whether that would be getting children to keep their masks on, to keep their distance? Is it playing out as you anticipated or have you had to juggle through some surprises?
COX: I definitely think the biggest -- my biggest fear was the masks. The mask wearing. Our students have done an amazing job with that, keeping the mask up over their nose.
I thought that would be the biggest challenge and our children have done amazing.
We have definitely had to rethink the way we meet as a staff and the way students are collaborative with one another.
So instead of playing math games together, they're playing with their own materials in a physically distanced way, still partnering, but with the distance.
Our kids are going outside more. We are lucky to live in the state we live in with beautiful weather this time of the year.
So I don't think we have had to make as many adjustments for students.
KING: You have had one positive case since reopening? Walk through now --
COX: That is correct.
KING: Walk through how that was handled. And how you communicate the challenges to elementary school children, young children.
COX: Absolutely.
So yes, we have had one positive case. So we utilized the support of the Health Department to contact trace and quarantine anyone within six feet for longer than 15 minutes with that person.
Those individuals returned on Friday. So that went really well.
I think the most important things are exactly what we are hearing. Hand washing, physical distancing, and wearing a mask is what's really helping keep the children and the staff at school.
KING: Chrissy Cox is the principal of Denman Elementary School.
We are grateful for your time again. And we'll check in again. Best of luck.
COX: Please do.
KING: It sounds like you're doing as well as you can so far, which is a great thing.
COX: We really -- yes, it is. Thank you so much for having me. Take care.
KING: It is a pleasure. You're doing the most important work in the country right now. Thank you so much.
COX: Thank you.
[11:54:57]
KING: When we come back, the president says he wants to move quickly, by the end of week, to name a replacement for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
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KING: Hello to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John King in Washington. Thank you so much for sharing your day with us.
Two-hundred-thousand American deaths, the United States very close, just about to pass that gut-punch marker today.
