Officials in Luzerne County, Pa., claimed Friday that an investigation into nine discarded mail-in ballots showed the ballot security system in place for the November election “works.”
“The system of checks and balances set forth in Pennsylvania elections works,” Luzerne County Manager C. David Pedri said in a statement. “An error was made, a public servant discovered it and reported it to law enforcement at the local, state and federal level who took over to ensure the integrity of the system in place.”
The investigations blamed an independent contractor hired to assist with the increased demand for mail-in ballots for the mistake. The nine ballots, from members of the military, were initially reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office to all have been cast for President Trump. A subsequent release said seven were for Trump, but two were resealed in envelopes for submission and their preference was not known.
District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis told a local publication that the investigation is ongoing, but that she did not believe it would affect the Nov. 3 general election.
“We are confident that it will be successfully resolved so it will not have an impact on the integrity of the election process,” Salavantis told Citizens Voice earlier this week.
The county confirmed that that ballots were Uniformed Military and Overseas Voter ballots, which are provided to U.S. citizens that live abroad or are in the military.
President Trump was informed about the nine ballots by Attorney General William Barr earlier this week and redoubled his claims that mail-in voting is a “scam,” according to a report by the Washington Post.
More than half of all Americans are expected to vote by mail during the 2020 presidential election due to the coronavirus pandemic, an issue that the president believes could raise questions about the validity of the election.
“We want to make sure that the election is honest, and I’m not sure that it can be,” Trump told reporters at the White House Thursday, after referencing ballots found in a “wastepaper basket.”
Despite the president’s claims, most election experts have said that voting by mail is a safe and secure way to cast a ballot.
Luzerne County officials said they were taking additional measures to make sure this doesn’t happen again by providing additional training to staff members.
President Trump leaned hard into Second Amendment rhetoric during a rally in Virginia late Friday, arguing Joseph R. Biden will wage the most aggressive war on gun rights in U.S. history.
“Your firearms will be confiscated,” Mr. Trump told supporters in Newport News. “Whether you like it or not.”
“Only by voting for me can you save your country and save your Second Amendment,” he said.
Mr. Trump, who caused a stir this week with his reluctance to commit to a peaceful post-election transition, revived his complaints about mail-in ballots and the possibility of fraud.
“We do want a very friendly transition. But we don’t want to be cheated. And be stupid,” he said.
Mr. Trump says he has a shot at winning Virginia, despite its steady march into blue-state status.
Hillary Clinton won the state by roughly 5 points in 2016 and polls show Joseph R. Biden leading Mr. Trump this time by a comfortable amount — sometimes by double digits.
“I said let’s give Virginia a shot. We’re nearby,” Mr. Trump said, noting he brought Vice President Mike Pence along for the visit.
“39 days from now we’re going to win Virginia, we’re going to win North Carolina,” he said, throwing in the neighboring swing state for good measure and asking whether any Tarheels made the trip across the border.
Mr. Trump revved up the crowd by promoting his planned nomination Saturday of a Supreme Court justice. Reports suggest it will be Amy Coney Barrett, who sits on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“The only thing I can tell you for sure is it will be a woman. Is that OK?” he told the outdoor crowd with Air Force One parked behind him.
Mr. Trump repeated his belief the administration deserves an “A” or “A-plus” for its response to the coronavirus, which has killed over 203,000 people in the U.S. The nation has about 4% of the world’s population but a fifth of the deaths from the pandemic.
“The only thing we did badly on it was public relations,” Mr. Trump said.
He argued Mr. Biden would kill the economic recovery from the virus and delay the rollout of a vaccine, which is on track for approval in the coming months.
Katie Koslow, a 29-year-old military spouse who lives on the other side of the airfield in Newport News, attended with her husband and their 6-year-old child. Like the majority of rally-goers, no one in the family wore masks.
“We’re here to show our daughter what it means to be patriot,” Ms. Koslow said, adding about the crowd: “It’s wonderful. What’s happened with the shutdown is a travesty. It’s bad for business. It’s bad for morale.”
The president promoted GOP candidates in Virginia, saying they can help Republicans take back the House. He also hit Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who along with his wife tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the day.
The president brought up the Democrat’s controversial comments about late-term abortion and his 2019 scandal over a blackface photo in his medical-school yearbook, along with the governor’s admission he once dressed as Michael Jackson.
Mr. Trump said the governor made the right decision when he decided not to moonwalk at a press conference.
“That would not have been pretty,” Mr. Trump said.
Troye warned the president’s comments should be taken seriously, even if he passes them off as jokes.
“The president when he’s joking, if he says that he’s joking, he’s telling you a half truth,” Troye told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Friday. “And in there is something fairly frightening and scary.”
“What you see is what you get,” she added. “You should trust that. He doesn’t hide it.”
When asked Thursday if Trump would commit to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters: “The President will accept the results of a free and fair election.”
Troye last week appeared in an ad bashing the president as more concerned with his reelection than the pandemic that has now claimed more than 200,000 American lives. The ad was run by the group Republican Voters Against Trump. In it, Troye asserted that she is a lifelong Republican.
The White House defended Trump by casting Troye as a disgruntled former employee. Her former boss, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, took to the White House lectern Tuesday to disavow Troye and said he personally escorted her out of the office.
Troye said she was not fired. Rather, she said, she resigned and several of her colleagues asked her to stay. She denied Kellogg’s account during her Friday appearance with Blitzer.
“I’d love to see the video footage of this video tape where he supposedly escorted me out,” Troye said. “I know a lot of the Secret Service people on the campus, and I would love to see that footage.”
“Nothing that we have achieved that has been about progress, in particular around civil rights, has come without a fight, and so I always am going to interpret these protests as an essential component of evolution in our country — as an essential component or mark of a real democracy,” the vice presidential nominee said during the NAACP’s national convention.
She added that protests were “necessary” as “the people’s voices must be heard, and it is often the people who must speak to get their government to do what it is supposed to do, but may not do naturally unless the people speak loudly — and obviously peacefully.”
Harris also praised the “brilliance” and “impact” of “Black Lives Matter,” which has received media praise but also come under fire for promoting left-wing stances like opposing the nuclear family. “I actually believe that ‘Black Lives Matter’ has been the most significant agent for change within the criminal justice system,” she said.
Her comments came during mass protests surrounding the deaths of Black Americans like Breonna Taylor, whose case prompted a series of demonstrations earlier this week. While the vast majority of demonstrations — which began in late May — have been peaceful, some have resulted in property destruction.
Footage quickly emerged purportedly showing buildings vandalized and burned in Louisville, Ky., after a grand jury decided to indict just one of the officers involved in Taylor’s death.
Across the country, violent confrontations during these demonstrations have led to deaths and injuries, including for demonstrators, journalists and police officers. In Louisville, Kentucky, two officers were shot, and subsequently hospitalized, during protests surrounding Taylor’s case.
Former Vice President Joe Biden and other Democrats have been criticized for allegedly not doing enough to denounce violent demonstrations, while President’s Trump campaign has attempted to tie their statements to on-going riots.
“Protesting such brutality is right and necessary. It’s an utterly American response. But burning down communities and needless destruction is not. Violence that endangers lives is not. Violence that guts and shutters businesses that serve the community is not,” the statement read.
At the end of last month, Sen. Harris similarly said: “We must always defend peaceful protest and peaceful protesters. We should not confuse them with those looting and committing acts of violence, including the shooter who was arrested for murder. Make no mistake, we will not let these vigilantes and extremists derail the path to justice.”
The coronavirus pandemic has dominated the headlines and our daily lives for most of this year. Medical News Today have covered this fast-moving, complex story with live updates on the latest news, interviews with experts, and an ongoing investigation into the deep racial disparities that COVID-19 has helped unmask.
However, this has not stopped us from publishing hundreds of fascinating stories on a myriad of other topics.
This week, our Medical Myths series marked World Alzheimer’s Day by challenging 11 misconceptions people may have about dementia. We also reported on a long-term study that supports the use of testosterone therapy to reduce obesity in people who might otherwise undergo bariatric surgery.
As part of a series of articles on health issues in the 2020 presidential election, we published a story on how voting and wider participation in politics may bring mental health benefits. Look out for more articles on health and the election in the coming weeks.
We round off this week’s selection with a collection of healthful recipes for weight loss, an inspiring personal story from a sickle cell anemia survivor, and our pick of the best aromatherapy candles to relieve stress safely and fragrantly.
Below are 10 recent stories that people may have missed amid all the COVID-19 fervor.
1. Medical myths: All about dementia
The latest installment in our Medical Myths series tackles 11 myths about dementia. Tim Newman, MNT‘s Senior News Editor, wrote this article to mark World Alzheimer’s Day on September 21.
The feature answers several crucial questions: Are Alzheimer’s disease and dementia the same thing? Is dementia an inevitable part of the aging process? Does dementia only affect older adults? And do vitamins and supplements have any role to play in preventing it?
2. Testosterone as a possible alternative to weight loss surgery
Our most popular news article this week reported on an 11-year study into the effects of testosterone on men with obesity who had clinically low levels of the hormone.
The results were striking, with males who received testosterone losing an average of 23 kilograms (kg), equivalent to 20% of their body weight. Those who did not receive treatment gained an average of 6 kg.
Those receiving treatment were also free of major cardiovascular events and type 2 diabetes, while 28% of those who did not receive testosterone therapy had a heart attack, and 20% developed diabetes.
In a recent Recovery Room, we featured Medical News Today‘s investigation into how health influences voting behavior. This week, we look at how voting and civic engagement may benefit mental health and overall well-being.
Both articles are part of Medical News Today‘s ongoing coverage in the weeks leading up to the presidential vote, including the latest Letter from the Editor on the role that health will play in the 2020 election.
4. Can we ease motion sickness through mental training?
Share on PinterestSome researchers suggest there may be an easy way to reduce motion sickness — by training the brain.
Our readers spent an average of nearly 6 minutes each reading this article on a new technique for preventing motion sickness. It’s an unpleasant condition with symptoms that include nausea and vomiting, while people may also experience sweating, dizziness, hyperventilation, headaches, restlessness, and drowsiness.
Motion sickness can occur in cars, buses, trains, airplanes, boats, and theme park rides. It can also develop while using virtual reality headsets.
Now, a new study suggests that 14 days of simple, pen-and-paper visuospatial training may help reduce motion sickness, broadening transport options in people who would otherwise suffer from it.
5. Reading in company might enhance linguistic creativity
What role does social context play in influencing people’s ability to process language? This was the question researchers in Spain set out to investigate in a recent study, covered in MNT this week.
The research finds that our brains behave differently when we read alone compared with when we read in company. The presence of another may boost creativity, but there are other, more systematic tasks where reading alone may be beneficial.
6. Immune system may trigger anxiety in response to infection
Share on PinterestA new study finds further evidence of the link between the immune system and behavior.
A recent study in mice adds to evidence suggesting that, aside from attacking pathogens, the immune system might influence mood and anxiety. One of the immune signaling molecules, or cytokines, that mediates these links is called interleukin-17a (IL-17a).
In the study, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville found that IL-17a causes anxiety-like behavior in mice. The team now plans to investigate whether too much or too little IL-17a could affect anxiety in people.
7. Less sleep reduces our ability to maintain positivity
Last month, MNT launched a collection of articles on the science of sleep that covered topics such as dreaming, sleep disorders, and how to get a good night’s rest.
This week, we reported on a new study investigating how getting enough shut-eye helps people maintain emotional equilibrium and allows them to enjoy the good things in life.
“When people experience something positive, such as getting a hug or spending time in nature, they typically feel happier that day. But we found that when a person sleeps less than their usual amount, they don’t have as much of a boost in positive emotions from their positive events,” says lead author Nancy Sin.
Share on PinterestA personalized dieting approach is best for supporting sustained weight loss, but people should avoid processed foods and added sugars.
As well as reporting on the latest medical and science news, and how health intersects with politics and inequality, MNT‘s editors also produce articles that help with the everyday practice of healthful living.
This new feature presents healthful eating tips and recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner to help people kickstart their weight loss journey. We also look at the basic principles of weight loss and how the microbiome plays an important role.
9. Through my eyes: ‘Living my best life’ with sickle cell anemia
Through my eyes is a regular MNT feature where we invite contributions from people who have had personal experience with a health condition. Recent articles have shared the stories of those who have survived COVID-19, encephalitis, and misdiagnosed endometriosis.
This week, our contributor is Vanetta Morrison. Vanetta was born with a chronic illness and given a short life expectancy. Now, she helps people live their best lives from the inside out, and this is her story.
10. Aromatherapy candles: 3 options for stress relief
Share on PinterestPeople may find aromatherapy candles calming because they emit a pleasant aroma and create soft lighting.
Mind, body, and nose – MNT have every aspect of your health and mental well-being covered this week, with this assessment of aromatherapy candles.
Aromatherapy candles contain essential oils, some of which may relieve stress. We look at the potential benefits, safety, and risks of using these products in your home.
President Trump urged Republican lawmakers on Friday to investigate bombshell disclosures that the FBI relied on a suspected Russian spy to justify secret surveillance of his campaign in 2016 in search of evidence of collusion with Moscow.
At a campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia, the president called out to Republican Sen. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, and Rep. Doug Collins, who were in the audience, to get to work on the scandal.
“David, if you guys can start working on that when you get back,” the president called out with a smile. “Doug, please, if you don’t mind. Kelly, start working on that with David, please, okay? I think Monday morning would be okay.”
William Barnett, an FBI agent assigned to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, said he believed there was a “get Trump” attitude among some people in the special counsel’s office and that prosecutors, rather than FBI investigators, pushed most of the decisions.
A summary of his comments was disclosed late Thursday in the case of former national security adviser Michael Flynn by the Justice Department as part of its request to have the case dismissed.
Other disclosures in text messages show that FBI and CIA personnel purchased personal liability insurance because they were worried about the implications of the agencies’ actions in the FBI’s probe of the Trump campaign. And the so-called Steele dossier, on which the FBI based its suspicions of Russian collusion, included allegations from a suspected Russian spy, a fact never disclosed to the secret court that granted the surveillance warrants.
The president said the revelations show that the allegations of Russian collusion against him turned out to be “the exact opposite.” He said the Obama administration was in bed with Moscow.
“They were the ones that were dealing with Russia. It was a disinformation campaign,” he said.
COVID REPORT: Five New Cases Confirmed Today, Joint Information Center Says
Press release from the Humboldt County Joint Information Center:
Five new cases of COVID-19 were reported today, bringing to 501 the total number of county residents who have tested positive for the virus.
Humboldt County Deputy Health Officer Dr. Josh Ennis reminded residents that the potential for exponential virus growth remains the biggest concern. “What we know is that COVID-19 is going to be here for quite some time, and our county’s response is really about protecting the entire community,” he said.
Today’s alert level stands at two or level yellow. Visit humboldtgov.org/dashboard to view the county’s Alert Level Assessment tool.
For the most recent COVID-19 information, visit cdc.gov or cdph.ca.gov. Local information is available at humboldtgov.org or during business hours by contacting [email protected] or calling 707-441-5000.
A Louisvillepolice officer who criticized Black Lives Matter activists and Antifa supporters in an email last month was relieved of her command and will retire, officials said Friday.
Maj. Bridget Hallahan, 47, sent an email in August saying members of both groups will be “the ones washing our cars” and “cashing us out at the Walmart.” In response, she was relieved of her duties leading the Louisville Metro Police Department’s Fifth Division and will retire Oct. 1, interim Chief Robert Schroeder said during a news briefing.
“We are aware of these emails and we have been looking into them,” Schroeder said. “They were her personal opinions and do not represent the views of this department.”
The email starts off by saying: “I know it is hard to keep our thoughts and opinions to ourselves sometimes” amid protests over the death of Breonna Taylor and others killed by police. She said the public sometimes criticizes “what we do without even knowing the facts.”
“These ANTIFA and BLM people, especially the ones who just jumped on the bandwagon ‘yesterday’ because they became ‘woke’ (insert eye roll here), do not deserve a second glance or thought from us. Our little pinky toenails have more character, morals, and ethics, than these punks have in their entire body.
“Do not stoop to their level. Do not respond to them. If we do, we only validate what they did. Don’t make them important, because they are not. They will be the ones washing our cars, cashing us out at the Walmart, or living in their parents’ basement playing COD [Call of Duty] for their entire life.”
Louisville police Maj. Bridget Hallahan will retire next month after sending an email in which she criticized Black Lives Matter and Antifa. (LMPD)
She also claimed that officers and their families have been victims of doxing, the publishing of someone’s private information, “merely because people just don’t like being told what to do or what not to do by police.”
“There is currently no recourse we have for incidents involving the doxing of officers or their families,” the message reads. “What we can do is speak up against them and put the truth out there. Through the PIO office and the LMPD FB page, we will come back at them on their own page to let them and everyone else know they are lying. We will print the facts. I will see to it.”
Hallahan also encouraged officers to come to her office to “vent together” if they need to.
The email comes after Louisville Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly emailed 1,000 of his colleagues and blamed Mayor Greg Fischer and other officials for failing “all of us in epic proportions for their own gain and to cover their a—-,” the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.
Mattingly was one of the officers involved in the raid on Breonna Taylor‘s home that ended with her fatally shot six times. He also was shot during the March 13 operation.
“You DO NOT DESERVE to be in this position,” wrote Mattingly. “The position that allows thugs to get in your face and yell, curse and degrade you. Throw bricks bottles and urine on you and expect you to do nothing.
On Friday, Schroeder said the department was reviewing the email and “determining what course of action” to take.
It was always a witch hunt designed to “get Trump.” Collusion was an illusion invented by a suspected Russian spy but zealously embraced by malevolent actors at the FBI and later by scheming prosecutors on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team of partisans.
These are the stunning revelations contained in two sets of newly declassified documents that pull back the curtain on the Russia Hoax, the dirtiest political trick in American history.
In testimony that is corroborated by records, FBI Special Agent William J. Barnett has exposed how the bureau’s collusion investigation of Donald Trump was based on nothing more than “supposition on supposition” and devoid of any credible evidence.
Assigned to lead the bureau’s original investigation into former White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Barnett came to realize that the case against Flynn was being engineered or manipulated as way to damage President Trump. Flynn, whose life and livelihood were ruined, became collateral damage.
FBI investigators, who concluded there was no plausible case against Flynn, were ignored. Instead of closing the investigation down, the critical decision to move forward was made “top- down.” Then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who had a contentious past relationship with Flynn, was calling the shots. The retired three-star Army general didn’t stand a chance.
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Despite the paucity of evidence against both Flynn and Trump, Agent Barnett reluctantly agreed to join the special counsel team to provide some balance (diversity of thought) to what was clearly a partisan crusade. He naively hoped his perspective might counterbalance the anti-Trump “group think.” It was a fool’s errand.
For example, Barnett quickly discerned that lawyer Jeannie Rhee “was obsessed with Flynn and Russia and she had an agenda.” This was no surprise, since Rhee had represented Hillary Clinton in her email scandal, defended the Clinton Foundation in a civil racketeering case, and donated to Clinton’s campaign for president.
As a key member of Mueller’s squad, Rhee was in a position to target the person who had defeated the candidate she had supported and defended.
Given how obvious a conflict of interest that represented, it was shameful for Mueller to even consider hiring her. But he seemed unbothered by Rhee’s multiple disqualifying conflicts.
Indeed, Mueller utilized other lawyers who held the same anti-Trump prejudices. Amazingly, Mueller sheepishly admitted during his congressional testimony that he had no idea of Rhee’s involvement with Clinton when he hired her. Right.
Barnett meticulously documented the bureaucratic malfeasance and malicious politicization of the legal process. In what are known as 302 reports, he memorialized “the ‘get Trump’ attitude by some at the SCO” (Special Counsel Office). Whatever the president said or did was reflexively misrepresented by Mueller’s confederates.
When President Trump asked investigators to “get to the bottom” of a matter, special counsel lawyers interpreted it as “cover it up.” The firing of FBI Director James Comey was viewed as conclusive proof of obstruction by the president, instead of an action motivated by some other logical reason such as the president’s dislike of Comey and a desire to replace him.
the phony collusion narrative appears to have been the clever product of Russian lies and disinformation designed to damage Trump and funded by the Clinton campaign and Democrats
While many of Mueller’s lawyers may have been motivated by a hatred of Trump, Barnett said it seemed like they “wanted to be part of something ‘big,’ a successful prosecution.” This is exactly what Attorney General William Barr warned about in a recent speech — overzealous prosecutors who want to enhance their careers and reputations at the expense of seeking justice. Innocent people become their victims.
We now know that Agent Barnett’s testimony and his documentary evidence is a component U.S. Attorney John Durham’s criminal investigation into the origins of the FBI’s Russia probe. This same evidence will also be presented in federal court Tuesday, as Flynn’s lawyers and the Justice Department present arguments that the case against him should be dismissed. The joint motion must be granted if U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan has any integrity.
All of this comes at the same time as the release of another set of declassified documents detailing how the infamous “Steele dossier” alleging Trump-Russia collusion actually originated from a suspected Russian spy who was designated as a possible “national security threat.”
Comey’s FBI knew this all along, having interviewed Steele’s primary source in January 2017 — just days after Trump was inaugurated as president. But the bureau kept it carefully concealed.
Despite knowing that the dossier was not remotely credible, Comey and others used it to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) were deceived, and the court itself was defrauded.
Evidence continues to mount that Trump was been victimized by rogue and lawless government actors throughout his entire presidency. Law enforcement was weaponized for a purely political purpose. Public officials chased a specious conspiracy that never existed, as Democrats and the biased anti-Trump media spun the daily tale that Donald Trump was a traitor working with and for the Russians.
If Americans are to have any faith in their government, Durham must expose the full truth. And those who betrayed their positions of trust should be held accountable.
The president’s nomination of Judge Barrett, a favorite of conservatives, to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, will kick off a furious and unprecedented scramble to confirm her in the Senate before Election Day.
President Trump plans to announce on Saturday that Judge Amy Coney Barrett is his choice for the Supreme Court.Credit…Samuel Corum for The New York Times
WASHINGTON — President Trump has selected Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the favorite candidate of conservatives, to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and will try to force Senate confirmation before Election Day in a move that would significantly alter the ideological makeup of the Supreme Court for years.
Mr. Trump plans to announce on Saturday that she is his choice, according to six people close to the process who asked not to be identified disclosing the decision in advance.
As they often do, aides cautioned that Mr. Trump sometimes upends his own plans. But he is not known to have interviewed any other candidates and came away from two days of meetings with Judge Barrett this week impressed with a jurist he was told would be a female Antonin Scalia, referring to the justice she once clerked for.
“I haven’t said it was her, but she is outstanding,” Mr. Trump told reporters who asked about Judge Barrett’s imminent nomination at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington after returning Friday evening from a trip to Florida and Georgia.
The president’s political advisers hope the selection will energize his conservative political base in the thick of an election campaign in which he has for months been trailing former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., his Democratic challenger. But it could also rouse liberal voters afraid that her confirmation could spell the end of Roe v. Wade, the decision legalizing abortion, as well as other rulings popular with the political left and center.
The nomination will kick off an extraordinary scramble by Senate Republicans to confirm her for the court in the 38 days before the election on Nov. 3, a scenario unlike any in American history. While other justices have been approved in presidential election years, none has been voted on after July. Four years ago, Senate Republicans refused to even consider President Barack Obama’s nomination to replace Justice Scalia with Judge Merrick B. Garland, announced 237 days before Election Day, on the grounds that it should be left to whoever was chosen as the next president.
In picking Judge Barrett, a conservative and a hero to the anti-abortion movement, Mr. Trump could hardly have found a more polar opposite to Justice Ginsburg, a pioneering champion of women’s rights and leader of the liberal wing of the court. The appointment would shift the center of gravity on the bench considerably to the right, giving conservatives six of the nine seats and potentially insulating them even against defections by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who on a handful of occasions has sided with liberal justices.
Mr. Trump made clear this week that he wanted to rush his nominee through the Senate by Election Day to ensure that he would have a decisive fifth justice on his side in case any disputes from the vote reached the high court, as he expected to happen. The president has repeatedly made baseless claims that the Democrats are trying to steal the election and appears poised to challenge any result of the balloting that does not declare him the winner.
Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, has enough votes to push through Judge Barrett’s nomination if he can make the tight time frame work. Republicans are looking at holding hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee the week of Oct. 16 and a floor vote by late October.
Democrats have expressed outrage at the rush and accused Republicans of rank hypocrisy given their treatment of Judge Garland, but they have few options for slowing the nomination, much less stopping it. Instead, they have focused on making Republicans pay at the ballot box and debated ways to counteract Mr. Trump’s influence on the court if they win the election.
Mr. Trump met with Judge Barrett at the White House on Monday and Tuesday and was said to like her personally. While he said he had a list of five finalists, he never interviewed anyone else for the job and passed over Judge Barbara Lagoa of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, who appealed to campaign advisers in particular because of her Cuban-American heritage and roots in Florida, a critical battleground state in the presidential contest.
Despite Mr. Trump’s penchant for drama and the intrigue that surrounded his first two picks for seats on the Supreme Court, the selection process since Justice Ginsburg died last Friday has been fairly low-key and surprisingly predictable. The president has long signaled that he expected to put Judge Barrett on the court and has been quoted telling confidants in 2018 that he was “saving her for Ginsburg.”
If confirmed, Judge Barrett would become the 115th justice in the nation’s history and the fifth woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court. At 48, she would be the youngest member of the current court as well its sixth Catholic. And she would become Mr. Trump’s third appointee on the court, more than any other president has installed in a first term since Richard M. Nixon had four, joining Justices Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh.
Judge Barrett graduated from Notre Dame Law School and later joined the faculty. She clerked for Justice Scalia and shares his constitutional views. She is described as a textualist who interprets the law based on its plain words rather than seeking to understand the legislative purpose and an originalist who applies the Constitution as it was understood by those who drafted and ratified it.
She has been a judge for only three years, appointed by Mr. Trump to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2017. Her confirmation hearing produced fireworks when Democratic senators questioned her public statements and Catholicism. That made her an instant celebrity among religious conservatives, who saw her as a victim of bias on the basis of her faith.
Judge Barrett and her husband, Jesse Barrett, a former federal prosecutor, are reported to be members of a small and relatively obscure Christian group called the People of Praise. The group grew out of the Catholic charismatic renewal movement that began in the late 1960s and adopted Pentecostal practices like speaking in tongues, belief in prophecy and divine healing. The couple have seven children, all under 20, including two adopted from Haiti and a young son with Down syndrome.
In a 2006 speech to Notre Dame graduates, she spoke of the law as a higher calling. “If you can keep in mind that your fundamental purpose in life is not to be a lawyer, but to know, love and serve God, you truly will be a different kind of lawyer,” she said.
But during her 2017 confirmation hearing, she affirmed that she would keep her personal views separate from her duties as a judge. “If you’re asking whether I take my faith seriously and I’m a faithful Catholic, I am,” she told senators. “Although I would stress that my personal church affiliation or my religious belief would not bear in the discharge of my duties as a judge.” She was confirmed on a 55-to-43 vote, largely along party lines.
As a law professor, Judge Barrett was a member of Faculty for Life, an anti-abortion group, and wrote skeptically about precedent in Supreme Court rulings, which both sides in the abortion debate took to mean she would be open to revisiting Roe v. Wade.
“I tend to agree with those who say that a justice’s duty is to the Constitution and that it is thus more legitimate for her to enforce her best understanding of the Constitution rather than a precedent she thinks clearly in conflict with it,” she wrote in a Texas Law Review article in 2013.
She later criticized Chief Justice Roberts for his opinion preserving Mr. Obama’s Affordable Care Act, saying he went beyond the plausible meaning of the law. As an appellate judge, she joined an opinion arguing on behalf of an Indiana law banning abortions sought solely because of the sex or disability of a fetus, disagreeing with fellow judges who struck it down as unconstitutional.
Conservative and liberal interest groups did not wait for Mr. Trump’s announcement to open the battle over Judge Barrett’s confirmation. Each side prepared multimillion-dollar campaigns to introduce her to the public and frame the debate to come in the Senate, with an eye on the November contest.
Several polls over the past week have shown that most Americans, including many Republicans, believe the next justice should be selected by the winner of the November election, not by Mr. Trump in the meantime.
A survey released Friday by The Washington Post and ABC News suggested the fight may drive Democrats even more than Republicans to the polls. About 64 percent of Mr. Biden’s supporters told pollsters that the vacancy made it “more important” that the Democrat win the election, while just 37 percent of Mr. Trump’s supporters said the same for him.
Peter Baker reported from Washington, and Maggie Haberman from New York. Carl Hulse contributed reporting from Washington.
