A deeply torn Senate is set to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, but Democratic leaders are asking Vice President Mike Pence to stay away from presiding over Monday’s session due to potential health risks after his aides tested positive for COVID-19.
Under the Constitution, the vice president serves as the largely ceremonial role of Senate president and can break a tie vote, but Pence’s vote isn’t expected to be needed. Senate Republicans control the chamber and steered their majority to seize the opportunity to install a third Trump justice, securing a conservative court majority for the foreseeable future.
Pence has not said if he plans to attend as is customary for landmark votes.
“Nothing about your presence in the Senate tomorrow can be considered essential,” the Democrats wrote. They warned of the risk not just to senators but the police, restaurant workers and others who keep the Capitol running.
The 48-year-old appellate judge’s rise opens up a potential new era of rulings on abortion, gay marriage and the Affordable Care Act. A case against the Obama-era health law is scheduled to be heard Nov. 10.
Eight days before Election Day, more people have already cast ballots in this year’s presidential election than voted early or absentee in the 2016 race.
The opening of early voting locations in Florida, Texas and elsewhere has piled millions of new votes on top of the mail-in ballots arriving at election offices as voters try to avoid crowded places on Nov. 3 during the coronavirus pandemic.
The result is a total of 58.6 million ballots cast so far, more than the 58 million that The Associated Press logged as being cast through the mail or at in-person early voting sites in 2016.
Democrats have continued to dominate the initial balloting, but Republicans are narrowing the gap. GOP voters have begun to show up at early in-person voting, a sign that many heeded President Donald Trump’s unfounded warnings about mail-voting fraud.
On Oct. 15, Democrats registrants cast 51% of all ballots reported, compared with 25% from Republicans. On Sunday, Democrats had a slightly smaller lead, 51% to 31%.
“This is a glass half-full, glass half-empty situation,” said John Couvillon, a Republican pollster who tracks early voting closely. “They’re showing up more,” he added, but “Republicans need to rapidly narrow that gap.”
Purple, gray, white and black. These are the colors often seen on the face coverings of St. Thomas students walking around campus.
As face coverings have become just as important to bring as wallets, phones and keys, students have begun customizing masks and seeking out fun patterns. View the photo slideshow displaying several students face covering choices here.
Mia Laube can be reached at mia.laube@stthomas.edu.