Go for the gold: Your Weekend Briefing

September 27, 2020

By Remy Tumin and Judith Levitt

Welcome to the Weekend Briefing. We’re covering the Supreme Court nomination process, China’s coronavirus vaccine initiative and the original selfie.

Doug Mills/The New York Times

1. President Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, igniting a partisan and ideological battle in the final days of the presidential campaign.

“She is a woman of unparalleled achievement, towering intellect, sterling credentials and unyielding loyalty to the Constitution,” Mr. Trump said in a Rose Garden ceremony. In her own remarks, Judge Barrett said “judges are not policymakers, and they must be resolute in setting aside any policy views they may hold.”

In choosing Judge Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the president opted for the candidate most likely to thrill his conservative base and outrage liberal opponents.

Judge Barrett’s vote record is almost uniformly conservative on abortion, gun rights, discrimination and immigration. If she is confirmed, our Supreme Court reporter writes, she would move the court firmly to the right, making compromise less likely and putting at risk the right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade.

For years, the conservative movement has been searching for a woman to assume the mantle of Justice Antonin Scalia, the giant of conservative jurisprudence for whom Judge Barrett worked as a law clerk.

In Judge Barrett, 48, conservatives believe they have found their woman. She is not only steeped in conservative legal traditions but also in a religious culture that friends say informs her approach to her whole life and to the law.

Al Drago for The New York Times

2. Now begins a confirmation process not seen in a generation.

The Judiciary Committee, led by Senator Lindsey Graham, will hold confirmation hearings for four consecutive days beginning Oct. 12. The full Senate could vote by the final days of October. Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, has not fully committed to a pre-election vote.

No seriously contested Supreme Court nomination has been confirmed so quickly since 1949. Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, said he would fight the nomination. He accused President Trump and the Senate Republicans of “shamelessly rushing to fill Justice Ginsburg’s seat less than 40 days before a presidential election.”

A divided Washington came together on Friday to honor Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who became the first woman and the first Jewish person to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol.

Brittany Greeson for The New York Times

3. The Nov. 3 election is in 37 days.

For many Americans, the fundamental question of this election is not just who will win, but also whether they will be able to cast ballots and have their votes counted. President Trump doubled down on his extraordinary suggestion this week that he might not accept the results of the election if he loses, branding mail-in ballots “a whole big scam.”

Because of the pandemic, many voting rules have changed, making it harder than usual to figure out how to cast your ballot. So we did the work for you to help you ensure that your vote is counted. Tell us your state, and we’ll guide you from there. Above, the clerk’s office in St. Clair Shores, Mich.

And we’re officially in debate season. Tuesday night brings the first of three presidential debates between Mr. Trump and Joe Biden. It will be moderated by Chris Wallace, the anchor of “Fox News Sunday.”

Mason Trinca for The New York Times

4. Members of the right-wing Proud Boys held a rally in Portland on Saturday, raising the temperature of a city already on edge.

Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency in advance of the arrival of the Proud Boys, a group whose members — many of whom support President Trump — have a history of violence at protests. Counter-protesters held rallies nearby.

Demonstrations across the country kicked up again this week after a grand jury in Kentucky decided not to indict either of the Louisville police officers who fatally shot Breonna Taylor.

In Minneapolis, where the summer unrest began in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, officials vowed to “end policing as we know it.” Here’s how the ambitious calls for change collapsed.

Continue reading the main story

Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

5. Chinese officials have inoculated tens of thousands — if not hundreds of thousands — of people with an unproven coronavirus vaccine.

Three vaccine candidates are being injected into workers whom the government considers essential along with many others, with plans to give shots to even more people, amounting to a big wager that the vaccines will eventually prove safe and effective.

The unproven vaccines could have harmful side effects. Ineffective vaccines could lead to a false sense of security and encourage behavior that could lead to even more infections.

Vaccines typically require years of research and testing. We’re tracking the race to produce a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine.

Every day, a team of Times journalists works with reporters and editors around the world to create this newsletter — and help you make sense of the world. Please consider supporting our work by subscribing to The Times.

Hilary Swift for The New York Times

6. The coronavirus brought a wave of transplants to a small Vermont town. Bear complaints are up. Plumbers are booked. And the town dump is “sheer pandemonium.”

The population boomed in Winhall, Vt., as people left cities to get away from Covid-19 hot spots. State planners are hoping that many of the 10,000 newcomers who arrived this summer will stay. But in a town like Winhall, where everyone knows one another, officials are hard-pressed to keep up with the burst of growth.

And on some U.S. college campuses, where a Times survey has found at least 130,000 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, students are being hired as Covid-19 safety influencers.

Amber Bracken for The New York Times

7. Before the show “Schitt’s Creek” swept the Emmys this month, its creator Dan Levy told his fans he was going back to school to learn about Canadian Indigenous history. About 64,000 people joined him.

The topic of the class at the University of Alberta in Edmonton is a matter that Canada struggles with openly: how to atone for systemic racism against the country’s Indigenous people, and how to rebuild those relationships. Every week, thousands of people tune into watch Mr. Levy’s study group with professors including Tracy Bear, above.

“I’m learning a lot of this embarrassingly late in the game,” Mr. Levy said during the first discussion. “But ultimately these stories are crucial to the identity of our country.”

Anne-Christine Poujoulat/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

8. It is a very big sports weekend.

The sports world’s dance with coronavirus lands in Paris this weekend at the French Open. Between a spike in coronavirus cases in France and a shift from spring to fall play at Roland Garros, above, conditions are less than ideal for some players. Here’s what to watch.

In basketball, the Lakers are heading to the N.B.A. finals, where they’ll play either the Celtics or the Heat. Earlier this week, our columnist looked at the burden of the great expectations on LeBron James. We’re also watching the W.N.B.A. playoff games today. Sue Bird is hoping to secure a slot in the finals for the Seattle Storm.

And in hockey, the Dallas Stars defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in double overtime to force a Game 6 of the Stanley Cup.

9. Before the selfie, there was the self-portrait.

The latest in our Close Read series examines one of the earliest stand-alone self-portraits in Western painting, from the German Renaissance painter Albrecht Dürer. It’s not exactly a welcoming image — Dürer’s portrait is “supremely arrogant,” our critic writes.

The painting shows the beginning of a Renaissance conception of the self: as a subjective individual, the author of one’s own life story.

Sony Latin

10. And finally, make some time for our Best Weekend Reads.

Getting 12,000 feet up and away from it all. The pros and cons of swimming with a hammerhead. Finding resolve in New York six months into the pandemic. These and more great stories await in The Times Magazine’s Voyages issue.

Our editors also suggest these 11 new books, new songs from Jennifer Lopez and Maluma, above, and others, and what to watch on TV this weekend.

Have you been keeping up with the headlines? Test your knowledge with our news quiz. And here’s the front page of our Sunday paper, the Sunday Review from Opinion and our crossword puzzles.

Have a terrific week.

Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6 a.m. Eastern.

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