Ofad the great privilege for a year. T its the proper place to make a speech like im about to make. Todaynded mass earlier and prayed for Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg and her family. Lost a heroin, an icon, and a mother. A grandmother, and we know how , absorbedis to watch the cruelty and pain of the dreadful disease of cancer. I spoke to her daughter and granddaughter last night, expressing my whole familys sorrow, particularly my own granddaughters. Student of was a Ruth Bader Ginsburgs daughter. Columbia. They made it clear to me, daughter and granddaughter, that until the very end Justice Ginsburg displayed the character and courage you would expect of her. They said she held their hands and give them strength and purpose to carry on. It has been noted that she passed away on rosh hashanah. By tradition, a person who dies during the jewish new year is considered a soul of great righteousness. That was Ruth Bader Ginsburg a righteous soul. It was my great honor when i was in the senate and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to preside over her confirmation hearings and strongly support her ascension to the Supreme Court and. Justice ginsburg achieved a standing a few justices have or ever will. She became a presence in the lives of so many americans. I agree with what others have said. She did as much to advance the constitutional rights, opportunities, and justice for women as Justice Marshall did for africanamericans. Yes, there was humor in mentions of the notorious rbg and her impressive exercise routines, but there was so much more. She was to use an overused word a trailblazer. A role model. A source of hope and a powerful voice for justice. She was proof that courage and conviction and moral clarity can change not only the law, it can change our culture it can change the world. I believe in the days and months and years ahead excuse me she will continue to inspire americans across this country. And together we can and will continue to be a voice for justice in her name. Her granddaughter said yesterday, and said publicly, that her dying words were, my most fervent wish is that i not be replaced until a new president is installed. As a nation, we should heat her final call, not as a personal service to her, but as a service to the country, our country, at a crossroads. There is so much at stake. The right to health care, clean air, clean water, the environment, equal pay for equal work, the rights of voters, immigrants, women, workers. And right now our country faces a choice. A choice about whether we will come back from the brink. Thats what i would like to talk with you about for a few minutes today. Within an hour of news of her passing, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell said President Trumps nominee to replace Justice Ginsburg will receive a vote in the senate. Passing,e hour of her the exact opposite of what he said when president obama nominated Merrick Garland to replace Justice Scalia in 2016. At that time, majority mcconnell made up the rule based on the fiction that there should be no nomination in an Election Year to the court. That is ridiculous. The only rule i ever followed related to that was the constitutions obligation for senators to provide their advice and their consent to a president s judicial nominee. But he created a new rule, the mcconnell rule. Absolutely no hearing, no vote, for a nominee in an Election Year. Period. No caveats. Many republican senators agreed with him, including the chairman of the Judiciary Committee at the time. Including the current chairman of the senate Judiciary Committee, Lindsey Graham of south carolina. Who at the time, said, i want you to use my words against me if there is a republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term. You can say, Lindsey Graham said, let the next president , whoever it might be, make the nomination. And you could use my words against me and you would be absolutely right. That is what republican said when Justice Scalia passed away. About nine months before election day that year. Now, we lost Justice Ginsburg about seven weeks before an election and americans have already begun casting their vote. It is estimated that the 40 of americans will have voted by the first. Tens of millions. You cannot unring the bell. Having made this the standard, to serve their interests, they cannot four years later change course when it does not serve their ends. I am not being naive. I am not speaking to President Trump, who will do whatever he wants. I am not speaking to Mitch Mcconnell who will do whatever he wants and he does. I am speaking to republicans out there, senate republicans, who know deep down what is right for the country and consisted with the constitution as i stand here in the constitution center. Not just what is best for their party. I speak for a million americans millions of americans out there who already voted and continue to vote and will have many more by the time the process is finished. Millions of americans who voted because they know their health care hangs in the balance. In the middle of the worst Global Health crisis in living memory, trump is before the Supreme Court trying to strip health care for tens of millions of families. More than 100 million americans with preexisting conditions. If he succeeds, once again discriminate or drop coverage for People Living with preexisting conditions like asthma, diabetes, cancer, and so many other problems. Perhaps, most cruelly of all, if donald trump has his way, complications from covid19, which are well beyond what they should be, it is estimated that 200,000 people have died by the time i finish this talk. But lung and heart damage could become the next deniable preexisting condition for over 6 million americans who already contracted the disease. Millions of americans are voting also because they do not want nearly half a century of legal precedent overturned. Millions of americans are at risk of losing their right to vote. Millions of dreamers who are at risk of being expelled from the only country they have ever known. Millions of workers, union workers, who are at risk of you losing the right to collectively bargain. Millions of americans who are demanding their voices be heard, that equal justice be a guarantee for all, not just some. They know we all know what should happen now. Voters in the country should be heard. Voting has already begun. By the time we get to the middle of october, there will be millions and millions who already voted. In just a few weeks, all votes in the nation will be heard. They are the ones who should decide who have the power to make this appointment. It is not about the past. It is about the future. The people of this nation. They are choosing their future right now. As they vote. To jam the nomination through the senate is just an exercise in raw political power. I do not believe the people of the nation will stand for it. President trump has already made it clear this is about power. Pure and simple. Power. The voters should make it clear on this issue, as with so many others, the power in this nation resides with them, the American People, the voters. Even if President Trump wants to put forward a name now, the senate should not act until after the American People select their next president. Their next senate. The senate should move on Donald Trumps selection and way the nominee he chooses fairly. If i win this election, President Trumps nominee should be withdrawn. As a new president , i should be the one who nominates Justice Ginsburgs successor. The nomination get a fair hearing in the senate before a confirmation hearing vote, after a confirmation hearing. We are in the middle of a pandemic. We are probably passing 200,000 deaths to this virus. Tens of millions of americans are unemployed. Health care in the country hangs in the balance of the court. And now they have decided to jam a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court through the senate. Voters have already begun casting their votes. In the millions. In just a few weeks, we will know who the voters of the nation have chosen as the next president. The United States constitution was designed to give voters one chance to have their voice heard on who serves on the court. There is no Court Session between now and the end of the election. That moment is now for the voters to get a chance to be heard and their voices should be heard. After confirmation hearing. We are in the middle of a pandemic. Like i said, as i speak, we are 200,000 deathsg lost to this virus. Tens of millions of americans are unemployed. Health care in the country hangs in the balance of the court. And now they have decided to jam a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court through the senate. Voters have already begun casting their votes in the millions. In just a few weeks, we will know who the voters of the nation have chosen as the next president. The United States constitution was designed to give voters one chance to have their voice heard on who serves on the court. There is no Court Session between now and the end of the election. That moment is now for the voters to get a chance to be heard and their voices should be heard. They will not stand for this abuse of power. This constitutional abuse. There is no discussion on the eve of an election or the lame duck donald trump loses. Justice ginsburg, what happens . But that discussion assumes we move this effort to prevent the grave wrong just that mcconnell is pursuing here. I believe the voices of the American People should and will be heard. This fight, this nomination, will not be over until the senate vote. Winning that vote, if it happens, is everything. Action and reaction, anger and more anger. That is the cycle of that republican senators will continue to perpetuate as they go down this dangerous path that they put us on. We need to deescalate, not escalate. It is why i appealed to the few senate republicans, who really will decide what happens. Please follow your conscience. Do not vote to confirm anyone nominated do not go there. Uphold your constitutional duty, your conscience. Let people speak. We cannot keep rewriting history and scrapping norms, ignoring our cherished system of checks and balances. That includes this whole business of releasing the list of nominees that i would put forward, and they said biden should releases list after Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away. It is a game for them. It is a play to gin up emotions and anger. There is a reason why no president ial candidate other than donald trump has ever done first, putting a judges name on a list like that could influence that persons decisionmaking as a judge and that would be wrong. Anyone put on a list like that of these circumstances, would be subject to political attacks. Any nominee i would select would not get a hearing until 2021 at the earliest. She would endure those attacks for months on end without being able to defend herself. Perhaps most importantly, if i win, i will make my choice for the Supreme Court not just on partisan election campaign, but on what prior president s have done, republicans and democrats, and i have served many of them. Only seeking their advice and asking it says advise and consent. The president is the person who gets to name someone. As everyone knows, i made it clear that my first choice for the Supreme Court will make history as the first africanamerican woman justice. But i will consult with senators of both parties, as well as legal and civil leaders of our country. The choice will be mine and mine alone, but it will be the product of a process that restores our finest traditions, not the extension of one that has torn the country apart for years. Let me conclude with this. As i said in this campaign, we are in the battle for the soul of the country. We face historic crises. A once in a generation pandemic, a devastating economic recession. The rise of White Supremacy unseen since the 1960s, and a reckoning on race that is long overdue. It challenging climate, a changing climate ravaging our nation and the world as we speak. Supreme Court Decisions will touch every part of these crises, every part of our lives and future. The last thing we need is to add a constitutional crisis that plunges us deeper into the abyss, deeper into the darkness. If we go down this path, i predict it will cause irreversible damage. The infection this president has unleashed on our democracy, enough. Enough. Enough. We must come together as a nation. Democrats, republicans, independents, liberals, conservatives, everybody. We do not have to agree on everything. But we have to reason our way through what ails us, as citizens, as voters, as public servants, that is the constitution. We have to act in good faith and mutual good wrote mutual goodwill in the spirit of not confrontation. This nation will continue to be inspired by Ruth Bader Ginsburg but we should not only be inspired by her but guided by her. By her willingness to listen to those with whom she disagrees. To respect other points of view. Justice ginsburg got along well with some of the most conservative justices on the court. She did it without compromising her principles, or losing her core principles. If she could do this, so can we. How we talk to one another matters. How we treat one another matters. Respecting others matters. Justice ginsburg proved it is important to have a spine of steel. But also important to have an open hand and not a clenched we are the United States of america. There is nothing we cannot overcome and nothing we cannot do if we do it together. Donald trump seems to want to divide the nation between red and blue states, representing those states that vote for him and ignoring those who dont. I do not. I cannot. I will not be that president. I will be the president for the whole country. For those who vote for me and those who vote against me. We need to rise to the moment, for the sake of the country we love so dearly. For his very soul. May god bless the United States of america. May god protect our troops, and may god bless Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Thank you so much. Our campaign 2020 coverage continues with candidates campaigning and debating. Cspan, your unfiltered view of politics. Lecture watching span, your unfiltered view of government