Exclusive: Conservative group launches $2M Supreme Court ad
21 September 2020
The Judicial Crisis Network is launching a $2.2 million ad campaign to put pressure on vulnerable Senate Republicans in battleground states to support a quick confirmation when President Trump announces his Supreme Court nominee.
The big picture: "Follow Precedent," previewed by Axios, is one of the first national and cable television ads to run following Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg's death Friday.
- Several organizations on both sides of the aisle will spend millions to try to influence lawmakers in the fight to fill Ginsberg's seat and energize socially-driven voters ahead of November.
Details: The narrator of the ad depicts Democrats as extremists for calling on President Trump and the Republican-led Senate to wait until after the election to fill the vacancy and argues there is precedent to move quickly: "Justice Ginsburg was confirmed in 42 days. Only three Senators voted against her. Justice O'Connor was confirmed in 33 days. It was unanimous."
- The ad will run in Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina, Utah, Maine and Washington, targeting vulnerable GOP incumbent Sens. Susan Collins, Cory Gardner and Thom Tillis.
- It also will air in D.C., reaching Trump and his aides ahead of his announcement of a nominee.
The backdrop: The Judicial Crisis Network — a conservative dark money group run by Carrie Severino, a former law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas — has committed to spending at least $10 million this month on its Supreme Court mobilization efforts.
- It was heavily invested in getting Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh on the bench.
- Severino committed this weekend to "surpassing" the spending of progressive opponents. Demand Justice, a liberal dark money group, also committed to spending $10 million in the fight over Ginsburg's seat.
What they're saying: "There is no reason Judge Amy Coney Barrett or Judge Barbara Lagoa could not be confirmed before the election," Severino said in a statement to Axios, naming two women believed to be among Trump's leading contenders. "The Senate should ignore the extremists, stick to precedent and confirm the nominee.”
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.