Good morning, it’s Friday, Sept. 25, 2020, the day the week when I reprise an instructive or inspirational quotation. Choosing today’s source was easy: “the notorious RGB.” You’ll forgive me, but Ruth Bader Ginsburg said so many interesting and profound things, and said them so well, that I couldn’t limit myself to one. I chose five, but it could have been 50.
First, I’ll point you to RealClearPolitics’ front page, which presents our poll averages, videos, breaking news stories, and aggregated opinion pieces spanning the political spectrum. We also offer an array original material from our own reporters, columnists, and contributors this morning, including the following:
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Warning Signs in Pennsylvania of Mail Ballot Chaos in November. Mark Hemingway reports on court decisions and other factors likely to complicate an already contentious battle in a key state.
Latino Support Lagging for Biden? We Don’t Buy It. Headlines warning of diminished Latino support for the ticket ignore history and seem to be based on a single Florida poll, argue Lionel Sosa, Maria Cardona & Albert Morales.
Amy Coney Barrett, Clear Second Amendment Backer. The circuit court judge on President Trump’s short list for Supreme Court justice has a solid record on Americans’ right to own guns, John R. Lott Jr. writes.
An Answer to Urban Violence: Take Politics Out of Policing. Illinois Senate candidate Mark C. Curran Jr. argues that city police chiefs could better respond to urban unrest if they reported to civilian review boards rather than mayors.
Joe Biden’s China Dilemma. In RealClearEnergy, Rupert Darwall asks whether, as president, Biden would push a climate-change agenda with Beijing or act to protect Taiwan, since doing both appears to be impossible.
Biden’s Long History of Voting Against Catholic Values. In RealClearReligion, Tom McClusky examines the nominee’s record in the Senate.
Will the President Socialize Health Care? In RealClearHealth, Christopher Sheeron warns against an executive order to ban surprise medical bills.
Copyright Law Favors Oracle in Dispute With Google. In RealClearPolicy, Curt Levey assesses the computer code case, which the Supreme Court will consider next month.
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— “What is the difference between a bookkeeper in New York City’s garment district and a Supreme Court justice? One generation. … In America, land of opportunity, that prospect is within the realm of the achievable.” — RBG, in remarks made at a swearing-in ceremony of immigrants, National Archives, Dec. 18, 2018.
— “Dissents speak to a future age. It’s not simply to say, ‘My colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way.’ But the greatest dissents do become court opinions and gradually over time their views become the dominant view. So that’s the dissenter’s hope: that they are writing not for today, but for tomorrow.” — interview with Nina Totenberg, aired on National Public Radio, May 2, 2002.
— “I’m dejected, but only momentarily, when I can’t get the fifth vote for something I think is very important. But then you go on to the next challenge and you give it your all. You know that these important issues are not going to go away. They are going to come back again and again. There’ll be another time, another day.” — to ABC News correspondent Lynn Sherr, at the first Ruth Bader Ginsburg Distinguished Lecture on Women and the Law, New York, Nov. 15, 2000.
— “[T]he first thing we do is we go around the room, each justice shaking hands with every other. And that’s a symbol of the work that we do as a collegial body. That is, you may be temporarily miffed because you receive a spicy dissenting opinion from a colleague, but when we go to sit on the bench … it’s a way of saying, ‘We’re all in this together.’ We care about this institution more than our individual egos and we are all devoted to keeping the Supreme Court in the place that it is, as a co-equal third branch of government and, I think, a model for the world in the collegiality and independence of judges.” — to Brian Lamb of C-SPAN, 2010.
— “To make life a little better for people less fortunate than you, that’s what I think a meaningful life is.” — a conversation with Jane Shaw, dean for religious life at Stanford University, Feb. 6, 2017.
Carl M. Cannon
Washington Bureau chief, RealClearPolitics
@CarlCannon (Twitter)
