| THE BIG STORY
The coming fight over replacing Ruth Bader Ginsburg
On Friday, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died at 87. It didn’t take long for President Donald Trump to confirm he would move quickly to replace her.
On Monday, Senate Republicans said they will proceed with a vote on Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court even if it takes place after Trump loses the presidential election.
That Republican approach breaks with their 2016 message. That year, the GOP-controlled Senate refused to advance the nomination of Barack Obama’s Supreme Court pick, Merrick Garland. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell justified this by saying that in an election year, voters should decide.
Some Republicans said the difference between 2016 and 2020 is that in 2020, the same party controls the Senate and the White House. Others were more blunt: “The Democrats would do the same thing,” they said.
👉 If Trump successfully appoints Ginsburg’s replacement, that would give the court’s conservative wing a 6-3 majority. Some liberals see packing the court — meaning adding seats to the Supreme Court — as one of their few options to counter that majority.
The doors to the US Supreme Court Building. Samuel Corum / Getty Images STAYING ON TOP OF THIS The FinCEN Files investigation continues
This week, we published our largest investigation ever. The FinCEN Files show how criminals used big-name banks to finance terror and death, and reveal how dirty money was allowed to flow in and out of these financial institutions despite warnings.
But there are more stories to tell.
On day 2 of The FinCEN Files:
The untold story of what really happened after HSBC, El Chapo’s bank, promised to get clean. Secret documents show how one of the world’s biggest banks kept doing business with companies that its own employees raised red flags about.
The government and the whistleblowers. Confidential records from the FinCEN Files show that Standard Chartered was reporting its own suspicions about customers with links to Iran until at least 2017.
Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders want big banking reforms following the FinCEN Files. Warren called for the creation of a new unit in the US Treasury Department, separate from FinCEN, “to investigate these types of financial crimes.”
SNAPSHOTS The CDC removed a new guidance about airborne coronavirus transmission days after posting it. The removal sparked more concerns that the Trump administration may be interfering with the CDC’s health advice.
ICE often gives detained immigrants poor medical care and uses segregation as punishment, a new report found. The report found that several staff members working at detention facilities “diminished the seriousness of suicide attempts as well as evidence of detainee medical issues going untreated.”
The bar owner indicted for killing a Black man during a protest has died by suicide. Jake Gardner's attorney said he had been “really shook up”after being indicted for manslaughter. Gardner had been indicted for the shooting of 22-year-old James Scurlock at a protest against police brutality.
Ellen DeGeneres publicly addressed allegations of misconduct on her show for the first time. “I want to say I am so sorry,” Ellen said after a BuzzFeed News investigation revealed a toxic work environment. DeGeneres apologized to viewers, saying she takes responsibility “for what happens at my show.”
RUNNING ON EMPTY “I accept pay less than my worth just to get a job”: How the gig economy screwed over millennials
Remember Anne Helen Petersen’s massively viral piece on burnout? It gave voice and context to what a lot of millennials were experiencing, and became the definitive piece on burnout.
Well Petersen went and dug deeper and came back with a whole book on the topic. Can’t Even: How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation was just released, and we’ve just published an excerpt from the book.
Read about how after the 2009 recession, newly vulnerable workers were forced to take crappy jobs and a decade later, they’re still screwed.
A taste: “Freelancing is exhausting and anxiety-building enough. But that’s compounded by the widespread refusal to see what you do as work... jobs within the sharing economy aren’t figured as jobs at all — they’re attempts to monetize your hobby, to have fun conversations while driving around the city, to invite people into your home. Even calling these jobs ‘gigs,’ with all the inherent connotation of brevity and enjoyability, elides their status as labor.”
BEHIND THE SCENES This scientist kept it real about what life looks like juggling parenthood and doing her job
Gretchen Goldman, a scientist and mom, went viral on Twitter after sharing a behind-the-scenes look at the reality of being a regular news contributor and a scientist. On the CNN screen: giving expert opinion about her field. Behind the scenes: a laptop on a chair in a room filled with children's toys.
She told us she wanted to be transparent about what it looks like to juggle those responsibilities and expectations. Here’s what the two realities looked like:
Try not to judge yourself for how you're coping today, Elamin P.S. If you like this newsletter, help keep our reporting free for all. Support BuzzFeed News by becoming a member here. (Monthly memberships are available worldwide). 📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Elamin Abdelmahmoud and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.
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