Key GOP senators back SCOTUS push
Good morning, NBC News readers.
More Republican senators are lining up to back President Donald Trump's push to secure a new Supreme Court justice as the election draws near.
Here's what we're watching this Tuesday morning.
SCOTUS showdown: More GOP senators throw their support behind Trump advancing nominee
Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, who is in the midst of a tough re-election campaign, said Monday that he will back a hearing for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday.
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the former chair of the Judiciary Committee who blocked a hearing on former President Barack Obama's nominee in 2016, also reversed course Monday and said he will support moving forward with Trump's pick.
With their support, the math gets harder for Democrats to block Trump from pushing his nomination through ahead of the election now just six weeks away.
It likely means that only two or three Republicans will vote against Trump's nominee, not enough to stop the nomination from confirmation.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee who would oversee the process and a close Trump ally, expressed confidence that they had secured enough votes to move forward Monday night.
"We've got the votes to confirm Justice Ginsburg's replacement before the election," Graham told Fox News host Sean Hannity. "We're going to move forward in the committee, we're going to report the nomination out of the committee to the floor of the United States Senate so we can vote before the election."
Trump said Monday that he's whittled the list of potential nominees down to five women and that he will announce his pick by "Friday or Saturday."
The president said he wants to fill Ginsburg's vacancy as soon as possible because he anticipates having legal issues surrounding the election and doesn't want the possibility of a 4-4 Supreme Court ruling if that is the case.
"We should act quickly because we're going to have probably election things involved here, you know, because of the fake ballots that they'll be sending out which is a terrible. ... We don't want to have a tie, no, we don't. And we want to have nine justices."
Ginsburg will lie in repose under the Supreme Court's portico Wednesday and Thursday to allow the public to pay their respects outdoors, the court announced Monday.
The feminist icon will also become the first woman in history to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office said.
Listen to the latest episode of our Into America podcast, for more on Ginsburg's years working at the ACLU and how she tackled gender bias case by case.
2020: Stoking his base, Trump warns of a Kamala Harris presidency
With Trump struggling to land an effective attack against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, he is increasingly focusing on Biden's running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, NBC News' Sahil Kapur reports.
In attacks that critics decry as sexist and racist, Trump has sought to convince voters that supporting him is needed to stop Harris, whom he paints as "super liberal" and as being groomed to usurp the presidency.
Meantime, Biden has put the key battleground state of Ohio back in play. According to the latest RealClearPolitics polling average, Biden holds a narrow lead over Trump in Ohio, 46.7 percent to 44.3 percent.
But many voters in once-Democratic strongholds that flipped decisively to fuel Trump's victory in the state in 2016 say they are sticking with the president, even if he's fallen short of fulfilling key economy-related promises.
Covid-19: CDC stumbles again, mistakenly posts 'draft' guidance about airborne coronavirus spread
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday walked back information posted on its website just three days ago, which stated the coronavirus can spread through aerosolized droplets.
The CDC now says that Friday's guidance was posted "in error," and that new information will be issued shortly.
The move is yet another misstep for the nation's leading public health agency, which recently reversed its guidance for the second time on testing asymptomatic people for the coronavirus.
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Plus
Louisville police declared a state of emergency as the city awaits a grand jury decision in the Breonna Taylor case.
The Justice Department labeled New York City, Portland and Seattle "anarchist jurisdictions," threatening federal funding.
"Just when I thought the danger was over — it wasn't": Fires flare near historic California observatory as state approaches 4 million acres burned.
Beta became the ninth named storm to make landfall in 2020's record-shattering season.
Bodycam video shows Utah police shooting a 13-year old boy after his mother called 911 because the teen was acting out and needed help.
THINK about it
RBG opened doors for women. Trump's picks to replace her would slam them shut, author Jill Filipovic writes in an opinion piece.
Live BETTER
"Our entire life is simply a series of conversations," says communications consultant Charreah K. Jackson. Here's how to be a better communicator.
Shopping
How Prime Day shook the core of the retail industry — and what to know about Amazon's 2020 sales event.
One fun thing
More than 10,000 people will run a 680-mile virtual race this week to raise funds for Black Voters Matter.
"Running is political," says one of the relay race organizers.
Meet the women behind the innovative push to get more Black voters to the polls.
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Thanks, Petra
