Amy Coney Barrett is questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee
President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, endured almost 20 hours of questioning from the Senate Judiciary Committee over two days last week. Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham announced that her confirmation by the panel is not certain, but incredibly likely. The panel is set to vote on her confirmation on Oct. 22, when senators are expected to vote along party lines to confirm her.
During the hearings, Barrett refused to comment on how she would rule on controversial topics, including climate change, voting rights and health care. She primarily discussed her originalist approach to law, similar to that of the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Throughout the hearing, Barrett remained calm and measured, much to the frustration of Democratic senators who were unable to get her to comment on the more contentious issues.
Early voting causes problems across the country
Early voting fiascos are plaguing the country this week. The California Republican Party has beensetting up unofficial ballot drop boxes in at least four different counties across the state. The state issued a cease-and-desist order over the boxes with which the party has said it will not comply and contends that they are legally ballot harvesting. Virginia’s voter registration websitecrashed on Tuesday, which was the last day to register to vote in the state. The website remained down for more than five and a half hours. Several Virginia government officials have called for the deadline to be extended. Citizens across the country have also reported hours-long waits for early voting, which some say point to continued efforts to construct barriers to voting. For example, in Georgia, many residents reported waiting more than eight hours to cast their ballots after the state closed several of its polling locations. In predominantly white areas, the average wait time to vote was six minutes, while in predominantly minority regions, the average wait time reached 51 minutes.
Major COVID-19 vaccine trialpaused after a volunteer’s ‘unexplained illness’
Johnson & Johnson announced Monday that the company was pausing its COVID-19 vaccine trial following a volunteer’s “unexplained illness.” Last month, the company began phase three of trials. Although Johnson & Johnson's vaccine development process was far behind multiple companies, the prototype had several advantages over the others. Additionally, this trial would have been the largest; it aimed to test 60,000 volunteers. There is a chance the trial will resume if the illness is not deemed to be a significant safety risk. The company did not announce whether the sick participant received a placebo or experimental vaccine. Johnson & Johnson is not the first major company to halt its trial — AstraZeneca paused its COVID-19 vaccine efforts after two participants became ill after being vaccinated.
