Evening Briefing: Amy Coney Barrett faces tense questioning

October 13, 2020

Your Tuesday Evening Briefing

By Remy Tumin and Karen Cetinkaya

Good evening. Here’s the latest.

Erin Schaff/The New York Times

1. Judge Amy Coney Barrett refused to commit to recusing herself from any legal disputes arising from the Nov. 3 election during her Supreme Court confirmation hearing.

Appearing before a deeply divided Senate Judiciary Committee, Judge Barrett insisted that she could be trusted to act as a just arbiter on any matter before the court, and said she would not “allow myself to be used as a pawn to decide this election for the American people.”

On the topic of the Affordable Care Act, Judge Barrett, who has criticized a past Supreme Court decision that declined to strike down a key part of the health care law, said she was “not here on a mission to destroy” the legislation. Frustrated Democrats dismissed her assurances.

She invoked her predecessors and refused to say how she would rule in potential cases on abortion, the election and same-sex marriage. Quoting Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she said, “No hints, no forecasts, no previews.”

Questioning is expected to go late into the night. Follow live updates here.

Also out of Washington: The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to shut down the census count early, a move that could allow the Census Bureau to submit tabulations excluding unauthorized immigrants by the end of the year.

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Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times

2. There are two new setbacks in the fight against the coronavirus.

Eli Lilly paused a clinical trial into an antibody treatment because of a “potential safety concern,” a day after Johnson & Johnson announced the pause of its coronavirus vaccine trial because of a sick clinical trial participant. Such pauses are not unusual, and illness in volunteers is not necessarily a result of the experimental drug or vaccine being assessed.

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As the trials edge forward, about 450,000 Americans have been hospitalized with Covid-19. Even for those covered by robust health insurance, hospitalization can generate costs. We spoke to virus patients who are battling surprise medical bills after a congressional effort to ban them failed before the pandemic. One staggering price: a $52,000 helicopter transport.

Kholood Eid for The New York Times

3. South Carolina is changing. Is it enough to put Jaime Harrison over the top?

Mr. Harrison, the unexpectedly competitive Democratic challenger in the U.S. Senate race against Senator Lindsey Graham, is betting that immigration and growing support from women will push him over the top. The state hasn’t had a Democratic senator in decades. But Mr. Harrison has something previous South Carolina Democrats did not: a record-setting fund-raising haul.

In other 2020 election developments:

Virginia’s online voter portal went down today, the final day to register before the election, after an electronic fiber optic cable was cut. The governor called for an extension to the deadline.
Early voting began in Texas with long lines, some the result of increased turnout and others linked to voting machine failures.
The California Republican Party admitted to setting up deceptively labeled ballot drop boxes, an action that state officials said was illegal.
If you plan to vote absentee, this timeline shows how quickly your ballot will be counted state by state. Here’s our full voting guide.

Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters

4. Europe is trying to halt a second wave of infections with targeted closures and travel restrictions.

The European Union adopted new guidelines aimed at coordinating varying travel measures amid a flood of tightened polices and warnings from national leaders, though the measures are not mandatory. Italy tightened its rules for a second time in a week.

Back in the U.S., the F.B.I. said Virginia’s governor was discussed as a target by members of the same group charged in a plot to abduct the governor of Michigan. Gov. Ralph Northam and other officials were targeted because of their aggressive coronavirus lockdown orders. Both governors targeted in the plot are Democrats.

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A newsletter on how the pandemic is upending education.

Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

5. A presidential executive order banning the “malign ideology” of racial sensitivity training has rippled through government into academia and corporate America.

The ban, signed by President Trump last month, applies to the federal government and its contractors, subcontractors and grantees, prompting colleges like the University of Iowa to withdraw programming fearing a loss of federal research grants. Legal experts say they have never seen such demands.

The musician Megan Thee Stallion recorded this video for Opinion on why she speaks up for Black women. “Despite the way so many have embraced messages about racial justice this year, Black women are still constantly disrespected and disregarded in so many areas of life,” she says.

Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York Times

6. Roughly a quarter of the Pantanal wetland in Brazil, one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, has burned this year in wildfires worsened by climate change.

It is home to breathtaking wildlife, including jaguars, tapirs, giant otters and bright blue hyacinth macaws. Its swamps and lagoons purify water and store carbon. Our climate reporters mapped the devastation from this year’s unprecedented fires and talked to people in communities whose water, air and food supplies have been affected.

“I couldn’t help but think, our Pantanal is dead,” said a member of the Guató people, an Indigenous group.

Apple, via Associated Press

7. Say hello to the iPhone 12.

Apple’s newest phone includes an improved screen, faster chips and the capability to run on 5G next-generation cellular networks. Prices remain largely flat. But don’t get too excited, our Tech Fix reporter says. 5G will be only incrementally faster, if at all.

If you’re wondering whether you should buy a new smartphone, answer these questions first.

The Fred Rogers Company

8. Fred Rogers. Julia Child. LeVar Burton. Big Bird.

As PBS celebrates its 50th anniversary this month, we asked our writers to reflect on its lasting imprint on our culture, and had Rachael Ray, Gary Clark Jr., Kal Penn and others reminiscence about the television that changed their lives.

It wasn’t just teaching Americans about empathy and honesty, wrapped in Mr. Rogers cardigans. Long before it was fashionable, PBS educated us about the realities of American life, and spoke some truth to power along the way, writes our TV critic.

Pablo Porciuncula Brune/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

9. Jesse Katayama finally got Machu Picchu all to himself.

In March, Mr. Katayama, a Japanese tourist, had planned to end a journey around the world 8,000 feet above sea level at the sprawling 15th century Inca citadel high in the Andes Mountains. The pandemic had other plans. After a seven-month wait in a small town at the foot of the mountain, Mr. Katayama’s patience paid off.

“After the lockdown, the first man to visit Machu Picchu is meeeeeee,” he wrote in a post on Instagram

Iceland, for its part, is investing millions of dollars to position itself for a major tourism rebound after the pandemic. It also aims to learn from the recent past, when tourist numbers soared.

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

10. And now, a final bow.

After 27 years and more than 2,500 reviews, Ben Brantley, The Times’s co-chief theater critic, is stepping down this week. Ben spoke with Jesse Green, his colleague and fellow theater critic, about his tenure, why he’s making an exit now and his best and worst list from the past decades.

“Hamilton” is his top musical choice; “In My Life,” a fantasia featuring a giant lemon, a glam rock angel and a hero with a brain tumor and Tourette’s syndrome, was the worst.

“I can honestly say I’ve never been bored at the theater during the past several decades,” writes Ben. “That’s because I’ve learned that nothing is boring if you really focus on it.” He offered one last recommendation: Watch a show as if you were a reviewer.

Have a theatrical night.

Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern.

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