The u. S. Supreme court, where flags are at half staff and there is a constant stream of mourners along with a growing memorial for Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg, who died last night at the age of 87. That set in motion all the activity on capitol hill. And within the white house. Ginsburg was the second woman to serve on the u. S. Supreme court. She survived several battles with cancer, serving for 27 years, and spend most of her career fighting for equality. Chief Justice John Roberts described her as quote a jurist of stature and a cherished colleague. Future generations will remember her as we knew her a champion of tirele tireless and resolute champion of justice. There is an empty feeling in your stomach when a leader of significance kennedy comes to mind. Robert and john. Martin luther king. Certainly, i think Ruth Ginsburgs legacy may not be as powerful as theirs, but nonetheless, up there. Of similar significance. Similar, indeed. As ginsburg became a pop culture icon, earning the knick name know notorious rbg when she submitted her dissension after the court struck down a a court. Democrats are holding a Conference Call. They have done so within this last hour. They are beginning to strategize how to handled this vacancy. The meeting coming after the president said republicans have an obligation to move forward with the selection of a new Supreme CourtJustice Without delay. Nbcs Lee Anne Caldwell joining us once again from capitol hill. Any new details emerging . Have you learned anything from this Conference Call that began about an hour ago . I have, alex. Well, the Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer he opened the conference wall with a moment of silence celebrating the life of Justice Ginsburg. He also had a few main points for his democrats including this is being to be an election issue, that they need to make extremely clear that this is a fight for the American People and for the balance of the Supreme Court. Also saying that they have to say that everything is at stake, these democrats, gay rights, lgbt rights, womens rights. This is a critical issue for democrats to hone in on. And finally, perhaps his most important point, alex, is, he says, let me be clear, this is a quote, if leader mcconnell and Senate Republicans move forward with this then nothing is off the taebl for next year. Nothing is off the table. What does the democratic leader mean by that . There is a long democratic wish list of thing that they want to do to change the senate, including get rid of the phil buster, the 60vote threshold for legislation to pass here in the senate. Also, some democrats, they want to what they call pack the court, which is expand the number of seats on the Supreme Court. So democrats, while they can stop this nomination from moving forward, if republicans decide to do it. They will, they say this could wreck the senate as we know it and this is all holds bars and they are going to move forward. Meanwhile the senator majority leader mcconnell is trying to appease some of his nervous members with a letter to them overnight telling them if they are inclined to perhaps not want to move forward with this legislation or with this nomination, to keep their powder dry for the moment, dont say anything that might put you in a box. So, republicans and democrats on both sides are now in this strategy session figuring out how they are going to move forward preparing for this major battle that is before them. Alex. They have their work cut out for them, certainly. Thank you very much, Lee Anne Caldwell. Lets go to the steps of the Supreme Court. Thats where mourners have been gathering since last night to pay their respects. And nbcs mariana soto my major is there. You have been covering the biden campaign. Talk about their reaction to the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It has become a call the action for democrats of even last night, just monitoring twitter and what the Campaign Staffers were putting out there. They were saying they felt reignited to finish this fight. They have only 45 days left to elect former Vice President joe biden. And senator harris, who actually came and visited the Supreme Court this morning per her own twitter account sent out a fundraising email to supporters saying quote they have to fight like hello hello to make sure that President Trump does not fill Ruth Bader Ginsburgs seat to the Supreme Court in these final weeks. Of course, even if the democrats are able to win, their being hurdle is the fact that Senate Republicans will still have the majority even through the end of the year, even past election day. Take a listen to what former Vice President joe biden said last night about what he hopes the Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell will do in these next few weeks. Let me be clear, that the voters should pick the president , and the president should pick the justice for the senate to consider. This was the position the Republican Senate took in 2016 when there were almost ten months to go before the election. Thats the position the United States senate must take today. And the election is only 46 days off. Now, alex, we havent heard from the former Vice President today about whether he stands on a number of these issues. However, thankfully, to the primary campaign, we have heard his positions on for example, packing the courts, which is something that democrats are looking at doing. Biden has said doesnt want to do that, as a transitionist. He also has said he is not going to release a list of potential nominees that he would put to the Supreme Court simply because he doesnt want to follow what the president President Donald Trump has done in the last several weeks. However, one thing that he has pledged to do is that if he is given the chaps to sever as president , he would nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court if he is elected, alex. We can bet that if he is elected as well, that list of potential nominees would come after november 3rd or whenever things get settled. Thank you so much. Lets go to white house, new report being an emerging front runner to potentially fill Justice GinsburgsSupreme Court seat. Garrett haake at the white house. What do you know . Amy Coney Barrett has been the lips of a number of people at the white house as it has been frankly on capitol hill really since the last Supreme Court fight that ultimately ended with the confirmation of brett kavanaugh. Coney barrett was confirmed to the federal courts back in 2017 she is considered to be popular with religious conservatives. She has a wellknown antiabortion rights stance, she is of course a woman which is something that the white house is apparently taking into significant consideration as they are trying come up with a replacement for Justice Ginsburg. Again, i would emphasize that Coney Barrett is at this stage a frontrunner, not the frontrunner. We know the president released his list with a couple of dozen names on there. But the idea of picking a woman does seem to be something that the white house is considering closely. We are told, alex that that announcement should be something we expect sooner rather than later although the white house is being very nonspecific as to exactly how quickly they will act on this. Garrett, as i look at this, this is somebody who, because of your point of that made, that her name was bawantered about frequently, she did have an exchange with senator Dianne Feinstein of california who told her that her religion doing wa ma was wellknown. She is a catholic and has a number of children. She pushed back significantly. Let me look for quote. She recalls saying it is never appropriate for a judge to impost that judges personal convictions whether they arise from faith or anywhere else on the law. Is there anything else that you have heard that would be a desubtracting sentiment for this particular nominee, should her name go forward . Her relative lack of experience is one thing. Only on the federal bench since 2017. The president in concert with the majority leader mech mcconnell and i can tell you that at least the chief of staff here at the white house, mark meadows has been in dock with the majority leader. There has been reporting that the president and the majority leader have spoken by phone. Thats not surprise. But the reality is they have to figure out a way to thread a electoral nields. There are senators up for reelection who will glue themselves to whoever donald trump selects to be his Supreme Court nominee because they need Donald Trumps supporters just as much as donald trump does, and perhaps more so to lift their fortune in places like arizona and North Carolina. In some other races where you haveth got for example, Susan Collins running in maine a defender of roe versus wade. She might be put in tight spot if the nominee is considered to be too conservative or too only opposed to abortion rights. The reality is trying to keep the conservative republicans in play and pick the most conservative justice they can get away with, the most conservative justice who would be palatable to 50 republican senators to get that person over the finish line. Garrett haake thank you for the perspective. Appreciated. The political stakes, if republicans decide to russia vote on a Supreme Court nominee, how it could backfire on election day. The antes been upped. To lead the charge. Good had to be amazing. And amazing had to become the expectation. The drivers feel it every time they get in. The power. Has shifted. You know limu,g after all these years the power. Its the ones that got away that haunt me the most. [ squawks ] cause youre not like everybody else. Thats why Liberty Mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. What . Oh, i said. Uh, this is my floor. Nooo only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Than Rheumatoid Arthritis. When considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz. A pill for adults with moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis when methotrexate has not helped enough. 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The number of deaths from coronavirus here in the United States surpasses 00,000. Morgan sheskey joins us from dallas. Remarkable that we are here. What is the latest from where you are, morgan. Reporter alex, good afternoon. You mentioned we never thought we would be hitting this number. It is wild to think that just back a few months we heard those predictions from dr. Fauci, from dr. Birx when they came out and said that if the United States did everything right we would be looking at death toll from 100,000 to 200,000 before this virus has run its course. Here we are in the month of september, alex crossing this 200,000 person threshold, 200,000 americans that have passed as a result of covid and now we are entering a potential fall and winter season that doctors are concerned about for a further spread of this virus. I will take you back to february 29th. It as the first confirmed death from the virus here in United States. Almost seems like an eternity ago. It involved a death at Washington State where an outbreak occurred in kirkland, washington, a suburb of seattle. From that point, we really watched this virus jump to the east coast, where new york city became embattled in trying to take on and contain this virus there. And then slowly but surely, we saw that hocdown go into affect that affecteder inially every state in the country. And it is affected every state in the country. The numbers were relatively low as a result this virus until the states started the reopen back in may. It was this the month of june, the month of july, that we really saw those Southern States see the worst this virus. Here in texas particularly, along the border, we saw Health Care Personnel that were doing the best they could with limited resources from an influx of patients there that were incredibly hard hit by this virus. Now as for when we can get potential relief, President Trump has made what is a massive promise. And that is 100 million doses of vaccine, alex, before the ep of this yea before the end of this year. It is important to node the cdcs dr. Redfield says vaccine doses may be available late this year, it wont be made available to the general public until late in the Second Quarter of 2021. We are a ways off from when americans can get that peace of mind hopefully from the development of a vaccine of covid. What is working, is what i am wearing right now. A mask. We have seen it time and time again. Scientists say it can help stop the spread of the virus. We are looking at protests spots popping up all across the states where people say because they are being told to wear a mask their rights are being infringed upon. Months ago in scottsdale, arizona a City Council Member there organized a protest against a recent mask mandate. That is not an isolated incident. As we enter these months where doctors say fall and winter could be more conducive to the spread of the virus we hit this 200,000 threshold of people that have lost their lives, we have a long road to go this will we can contain this virus. With a vaccine not available until later in 2021, experts say it is incumbent upon all of us to do whatever we can, to have basically some personal responsibility in trying to limit the spread of what we see today as still a deadly virus. Amen to that, personal responsibilities. Morgan sheskey, a remarkable story based on the facts and the figures of this tragic tale. Lets go the our other breaking news. Just hours after the passing of Supreme CourtJustice Ruth Bader ginsburg senator Mitch Mcconnell issues a statement saying President Trumps nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States senate. President trump tweeting his support today from the senate to fill the seat without delay. Joining me now, the editor at large for the daily beast and Michael Steele the former rnc chairman. Welcome to you both. There is a lot to get into. We start with the statement from mcgregor connell. It is really an aboutface from his stance this 2016. This is when he argued that the senate should not and in fact would not hold a hearing on president obamas Election Year nom nay Merrick Garland. Heres what listen see graham had to say about a potential Supreme Court vacantsy in 201. Then again repeated in 2018. I want to you use my words against me. If there is a republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occur this is the last year of the first term you can say Lindsey Graham said lets let the next president , whoever it might be, make that nomination. And you can use my words against me and you would be absolutely right. I will tell you this. If an opening comes in the last year of President Trumps term and the primary process is started, well wait until the next election. Okay. Hes on record there. Going to get you guys on record today as we had senator graham tweeting a response to the president s twee