NORTH CAROLINA OPEN THREAD for Sunday, October 4, 2020
281st Weekly Edition
This is a weekly feature of North Carolina Blue. We hope this weekly platform gives readers interested in North Carolina politics a place to share their knowledge, insight and inspiration as we work on taking back our state from some of the most extreme Republicans in the nation. Please join us every week as we try to Connect, Unite, Act with our North Carolina Daily Kos community. You can also join the discussion in four other weekly State Open Threads.
Colorado: Mondays, 7:00 PM Mountain Michigan: Wednesdays, 6:00 PM Eastern North Carolina: Sundays, 1:00 PM Eastern Missouri: Wednesday Evenings Kansas: Monday Evenings
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The floor is yours…
10/4/202 1:00 PM
NC 216,886 3,629 184,422 28,835
Tillis, Cunningham spar over Supreme Court, absentee voting during debate
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said in a debate Thursday night with Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham that the president's nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court — if appointed — should not recuse herself in any potential cases involving the 2020 presidential election.
"I don't believe that she should (recuse herself), but that's a decision that she'll make based on the facts," Tillis said of President Donald Trump's choice, Amy Coney Barrett. who awaits the Senate confirmation process. "It's a very well-documented recusal process, and I trust Amy Coney Barrett and all the nine justices to act appropriately."
Concerns about the Supreme Court and mail-in voting in this year's presidential election took center stage at Thursday night's debate.
Cunningham declined to say whether he thinks Barrett is qualified to be on the nation's highest court. He said that, if elected, he would reserve judgment until meeting her.
Could COVID-19 delay the Supreme Court confirmation hearings?
One of the few obstacles that could prevent Amy Coney Barrett from being confirmed as a Supreme Court justice this year is the coronavirus.
That potential threat was on display Friday, when news of President Donald Trump’s positive COVID-19 test was followed by similar announcements from Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Mike Lee of Utah — both of whom serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Both men met with Barrett on Tuesday, in one-on-one sessions in which neither was wearing a face mask.
Other Republicans on the committee, which is expected to launch hearings on the Barrett nomination on Oct. 12, have not reported recent testing results, but Senate Democrats seized on the opportunity to argue that a slower pace is needed.
Both Lee and Tillis have indicated they will quarantine for 10 days.
A White House spokesman said Barrett, who met with roughly 30 senators this week, is tested daily for coronavirus, and that she had a negative test result on Friday. The Washington Post also reported Friday that Barrett was diagnosed with the coronavirus earlier this year but has since recovered, with the White House declining to comment on that report.
Editorial: Concocted scandal disrupts Elections Board's important work
It turns out that the only thing “collusive” in the ginned-up controversy over the State Board of Elections’ efforts to settle some mail-in ballot lawsuits was the false outrage from Republican Party and GOP leaders in the General Assembly. It was a desperate ploy gone awry. It revealed the shameful and phony efforts – from the president on down – to create baseless distrust in our election and the security of our ballots. -snip-
It is time for the state Republican Party’s leadership to to show it believes in fair elections and a voting process that does all it can to encourage those eligible to cast ballots. To the degree Republican are unhappy, their misery is self-inflicted.
This conniving and conning misfired. Rather than discrediting our elections or their political rivals, state Republican leaders showed their own true motives and actions.
Thanks again, stay safe out there!
