A scheme to sell e. U. Possible routes to criminals we have an exclusive investigation. More coronavirus restrictions expected to be imposed in england for temporary hospitals have been put on standby because of a surge in infections. And install a bron james in the. Back on top of the basketball world the lakers have ended their 10 year wait to win the n. B. A. Championship. And we begin this hour in the United States where the divided senate is now charging ahead with confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee amy kone barrett republicans are trying to rapidly confirm barack before novembers election and expand the courts conservative majority protesters for and against the confirmation have been chanting outside the court in pouring rain as the hearing gets underway a seat opened up after the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg her dying wish was for her replacement to be chosen after the president ial election alan fisher is joining us live on capitol hill Amy Connie Barrett is. Its going to be subject to some of the most intense scrutiny in the Senate Hearing isnt it. But that the democrats have got to be careful how they frame this because they got a great deal of criticism after the way they conducted. Themselves during the hearing into just this break cavanagh youll remember that Lindsey Graham is now the chairman of the Judiciary Committee attacked them for trying to destroy a man after he was accused of sexually assaulting someone at a party in his teenage years so theyve got a fine line to trade here their argument is that this should not be taking place a toll to go back to 4 years ago when. Justice Antonin Scalia died and the republicans refused to allow a vote to be held in the senate for Justice Merrick garland who was nominated by democratic president barack obama this time around they say its different because the president is republican but the senate is largely controlled by the public and they give me im going to introduce im going to interrupt you there because senator Lindsey Graham whos the chair of the Judicial Committee has just started speaking we want to hear what he has to say. I doubt if theres any room in the countrys been given more attention in detail to make sure is c. D. C. Compliant the architect of the capitol working with the attending physician has said that we can safely. Do our business similarly is that been cleared by your physician welcome back the cobra problem in america is real is serious is dangerous and we have to mitigate the risk and we just let every american know that many of you are going to work today. And your employer will take care of your Health Care Needs but we do have a country that needs to move forward safely and there are millions of americans cops waitresses nurses you name it going to work today to do their job and were going to work in the senate to do our job and one of the most important jobs the senate Judiciary Committee will ever do. Is have herring thank you confirm a justice to the Supreme Court so for housekeeping purposes. The 1st day has traditionally been Opening Statements by my colleagues will do 10 minute rounds and everybody i have 10 minutes to talk about their views of the hearing and what this is all about then we will have a panel to introduce judge barrett and she will make a note statement will try to finish mid afternoon at thats possible then tuesday and wednesday will be long days will be 30 minute rounds for every senator followed by a 20 minute round my goal is to complete that wednesday at some kind of reasonably reasonable hour in the in the evening thursday will begin the markup i intend to hold it over and bring the committee back on the 22nd to vote on the nomination so if i may ill start off with a Opening Statement and say why are we here number one. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on september the 18th. What can you say about judge Justice Ginsburg she was confirmed 96 to 3. Now those who are days that have since passed i regret that. 96 to 3 this was a person who worked for the a. C. L. U. Someone who was known in progressive circles as an icon. Apparently just about every republican voted for her. Her good friend on the Court Justice scalia i think got 97 votes i dont know what happened between then and now because theres we can all take some blame but i just want to remind everybody there was a time in this country where someone like Ruth Bader Ginsburg was seen by almost everybody is qualified for the position of being on the Supreme Court understanding that she would have a different philosophy than many of the republicans who voted for her 27 years on the court before becoming a member of the court she was an active litigator pushing for more equal justice and better write better rights for women throughout the country her close friend until that his death justice glee scalia called her the leading and very successful litigator on behalf of womens rights the 3rd good marshall of that cause what high praise. I cant say any more than that statement says in my view the person appearing before this committee is in a category of excellence something the country should be proud of and she will have a chance to make her get her case to be a worthy successor and to become the knight member of the Supreme Court of the United States on september the 26 judge amy barrett was nominated by President Trump to the Supreme Court who is she she is a judge sitting on the 7th judicial circuit. Shes holly respected she was a professor at notre dame 3 years during that tenure she was chosen by the students to being the best professor which im sure is no easy task in any college. Shes while it marred for her integrity she grew up in new orleans graduated from Rhodes College in memphis tennessee in 1904 graduated summa cum laude in person or class from Notre Dame Law School in 1997 so academically shes very gifted she clerked for judge Laurence Silberman on the u. S. Court of appeals for the d. C. Circuit and then for Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court she practiced law in washington d. C. She joined the path will be at notre dame in 2002. Shes published numerous articles in prestigious journals including the Columbia University of virginia and cornell law review shes been a Circuit Court judge at the 7th circuit since 2017 she was confirmed to that position in a bipartisan with a partisan vote she has heard hundreds of cases in that capacity. She said i clerked for Justice Scalia more than 20 years ago but the lessons i learned still resonate his judicial philosophy is mine. A judge must apply the law as written judges are not policy makers and they must be resolute in setting as any policy views they might hold she will give her statement but i think that is a good summary of who she is. That sue amy baird is in terms of the law terms amy barrett the individual she and her husband have 7 children to adopt. So 9 seems to be a good number for. The process this is an Election Year were confirming the judge in Election Year after the voting has occurred. What will happen is that my democratic colleagues will say this is never been done and theyre right in this regard nobodys i think they ever been confirmed electioneer past july the bottom line is Justice Ginsburg when asked about this several years ago said that a president serves 4 years not 3 theres nothing unconstitutional about this process this is a vacancy that is a kurd theyre a tragic loss of a great woman and were going to fill that vacancy with another great woman the bottom line here is that the senate is doing its duty. Constitutionally tested judge garland the opening that occurred with the passing of Justice Scalia was in the early part of an Election Year the primary process it just started and we can talk about history but heres the histories i understand it. Theres never been a situation where you had a president of one party in the senate of another where the nominee of the replacement was made in Election Years been over 140 years ago i think there been 19 vacancies filled in Election Year 17 in the 19 were confirmed to the court when the party of the president in the senate or the saying. In terms of timing. The hearing is starting 16 days after nomination more than half of all Supreme Court hearings have been hill within 16 days of the announcement of the nominee stevens tan rehnquist 1313 blackman 15 berger 13. All i can say is that i feel that were doing this constitutionally theyre our democratic friends object to the process i respect them all theyll have a chance to have their say but most importantly i hope we will know more about how the law works. Checks and balances what the Supreme Court is all about is over. Well this hearing a lot of people on our side just ram it through i hear that a lot as well i dont listen to the radio much anymore so the bottom line is i think its important this is a live to the point appointment i would like the world in the country to know more about judge barrett im proud of you and were proud of what youve accomplished on that youre a great choice by the president this is probably not about persuading each other unless something really dramatic happens all republicans will vote yes democrats will vote no and that will be the way to break out of the vote but the hearing is a chance for democrats to dig deep into her philosophy appropriately ask her about the law how she would be different. Whats on her mind gives republicans a chance to do the same thing most importantly it gives you a chance the American People to find out about judge bear judge for yourself is this the person is this person qualified. If she is qualified is sort of marin kagan at think so these were 2 nominees presented to the committee by president obama they had a different legal philosophy than my own but i never doubted one moment that they were not qualified. The corsican kavanaugh were qualified the senate in the past has looked at qualifications more than anything else weve taken a different path at times Bork Thomas Alito kavanah i hope we dont take that path with judge greer she doesnt deserve that and i dont think it makes this hearing any better in the American People believe were not deserve a repeat of those episodes and the senate Judiciary Committee is history to my democratic colleagues i respect you all weve done some things together and weve had some fights in this committee ive tried to give you the time you need to make your case and you have every right in the world to make your case i think i know how the vote is going to come out but i think judge barrett is required for the good of the nation to submit your questions and ours this is going to be a long contentious week and we just asked one thing of the committee to the extent possible lets make it respectful lets make it challenging lets remember the world is watching senator feinstein. Thanks very much mr chairman and i i do want to just address your last statement we feel the same way and i believe we want this to be a very good hearing and i certainly will strive to do my best to achieve that. Good morning judge farrah and welcome to you and your family less than one month ago the nation lost one of our leading voices for equality Ruth Bader Ginsburg less a very big shoes to fill judge ginsburg love the law and she loved this country she worked all of her life to ensure that the opening words of our constitution we the people of the United States in order to form a more Perfect Union included all the people not just a few elite few she was a standard bearer for justice and Justice Ginsburgs nomination was the 1st one that i participated in when i came to the senate and it was a real thrill to be part of that crowded in celebratory hearing for someone who had broken down barriers and reopened doors and staunchly believed in a womans right to full equality and autonomy and filling judge ginsburg seat the stakes are extraordinarily high for the American People both in the short term and for decades to come most importantly Health Care Coverage for millions of americans is at stake with this nomination so over the course of these hearings my colleagues and i will focus on that subject we will examine the consequences if and thats a big if republicans succeed in rushing this nomination through the senate before the next president takes office but most him. Courtly in just a few weeks on november 10th the Supreme Court will hear hearings in texas v california a case brought to strike down the america the a ca the president has promised to appoint justices who will vote to dismantle that law as a candidate he criticized the Supreme Court for upholding the law and said and i quote if i win the presidency my judicial appointments will do the right thing unlike bushs appointee john roberts on obamacare and quote and when he appointed judge barrett to fill Justice Ginsburg see the president said that eliminating the Affordable Care act would be quote a big win for the usa judge barrett youve been critical of chief Justice Roberts for his 54. 00 opinion upholding the law stating that roberts quote put the Affordable Care act beyond its plausible meaning to save the statute and quote this well could mean that if judge barrett is confirmed american stand to lose benefits that the a c. A provide so i hope you will clarify that in this hearing. First more than 130000000 americans with preexisting conditions like cancer as im a or even cove at 19 could be denied coverage or charged more to obtain Health Insurance this in colludes more than 16800000 californians with preexisting conditions and were just one state but i think you should know how we feel secondly some 12000000 working americans are covered through the a cas Medicaid Expansion if the act is struck down they lose their health care 3rd more than 2000000 americans under the age of 26 are covered by their parents Health Insurance and they could lose that coverage for birth insurers could charge higher premiums for women simply because of their gender and 5th women could lose access to critical Preventive Services and Maternity Care including cancer screenings and well woman visits now the bottom line is this there have been 70 attempts to reveal to repeal the a ca but clearly the effort to dismantle the law continues and they are asking the Supreme Court to strike down the Affordable Care act this i believe will cause tremendous harm consider people like Christina Munroe Garcia of my home state at age 60 christinas eyesight started to fail because of cataracts she had always struggled to obtain of surance because their preexisting conditions including c sections and epilepsy the cause. Of coverage when it was even offered to or average between 2503000. 00 a month far more than she and her husband could afford in 2010 she was able to obtain coverage through the Affordable Care act within weeks she was able to have cataract surgery this saved her life christina described her reaction when she was able to get coverage through the California Health exchange following passage of the a c. A and let me quote it was like mana from heaven i cried after all these years of struggling to obtain coverage i was able to get insurance through the California Exchange no questions asked about my pre existing conditions the premium was worth 200. 00 a month as compared to the 25023000 Monthly Payments i would have to pay before the a ca if i could even get an insurer to offer me coverage as christina further explained and i quote people just dont understand what it was like the incredible fear before the Affordable Care act having to war about being able to cover medical expenses and not being abl