The Originalist: Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett says in a statement she plans to deliver today at the opening of her confirmation hearings that she is a follower of the late Justice Antonin Scalia. “His judicial philosophy was straightforward: A judge must apply the law as written, not as the judge wishes it were,” she says.

  Barrett is the opposite of  the justice she’s replacing, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

  The Senate hearings begin today as the Republicans attempt to jam Barrett into place before the November 3^rd election.

  Barrett is what’s called an “originalist.” She believes in deciding cases literally on what the law and the constitution say, not on what might be the spirit or an evolved interpretation of the law. “Courts have a vital responsibility to enforce the rule of law which is critical to a free society,” she says in the statement, “But courts are not designed to solve every problem or right every wrong in our public life. The policy decisions and value judgments of government must be made by the political branches elected by and accountable to the People. The public should not expect courts to do so, and courts should not try.”

  Because of that philosophy, Barrett is expected to rule rigidly in favor of gun rights and against abortion.

Presidential Business: In its continuing stories about the President’s taxes, finances, and business, The NY Times reports that Donald Trump has cashed in on his office trading favors for profits rather than draining the swamp as he had pledged.

  The paper says, “Mr. Trump did not merely fail to end Washington’s insider culture of lobbying and favor-seeking, he reinvented it, turning his own hotels and resorts into the Beltway’s new back rooms, where public and private business mix and special interests reign.”

  The paper says, “Once Mr. Trump was in the White House, his family business discovered a lucrative new revenue stream: people who wanted something from the president. An investigation by The Timesfound over 200 companies, special-interest groups and foreign governments that patronized Mr. Trump’s properties while reaping benefits from him and his administration.”

The Public Discourse: A private security guard employed by a local Denver television station was taken into custody Saturday after the fatal shooting of a demonstrator who was spraying Mace. Matthew Dolloff, 30, was being held for investigation of murder. 

  The shooting happened in a confrontation between left and right wing demonstrators outside the Denver Art Museum.

  The incident was partially recorded on video and in still photos taken by a Denver Post photographer.The dead man had been taking part in what was billed as a “Patriot Rally” that became verbally heated. He sprayed Mace at Dolloff, who then shot him with a handgun, killing him.

Cash Flow: South Carolina’s Democratic Senate candidate Jaime Harrison raised $57 million in the last quarter, the biggest quarterly take for any Senate candidate in history. He’s running to unseat Lindsey Graham. 

  Harrison is not the only Democrat hauling in the cash this election. The drive by Senate Republicans’ to quickly replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court before the election appears to have fired up the Democratic base and caused supporters to open their checkbooks. The NY Times reports that, “From Alaska to Maine to the Carolinas, Democratic strategists working on Senate campaigns described a spontaneous outpouring of donations the likes of which they had never seen.”

Viral News: The Chinese city of Qingdao is testing all 9.5 million of its residents after the discovery of the country’s first locally transmitted cases of the coronavirus virus in almost two months. A dozen people in the seaside city have tested positive.

  Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, says his words were taken out of context and without his permission for use in a Trump campaign ad. The ad has Fauci saying “I can’t imagine that anybody could be doing more,” but when he said that, he wasn’t talking about the President. Fauci never makes political endorsements.

  Today the world is approaching 40 million cases of the coronavirus and nearly 1.1 million deaths. In the US this morning, 214,776 Americans are dead of the virus.

Highest Bidder: Two Americans have been awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for their work on theories about how to use auctions to sell things that are difficult to price and sell. The winners, Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson, are both professors at Stanford University.

  One of their auction formats was used by the US government in 1994 to auction off radio frequencies that were enormously valuable to growing mobile networks. 

The Sports Page: LeBron James and Anthony Davis last night led the Los Angeles Lakers to a record-tying 17th NBA championship, beating  the Miami Heat 106-93 in game six. The Boston Celtics also have won 17 championships.

  The NBA finished its season in a social “bubble,” isolating teams at Walt Disney World in Florida. None of the players ended up testing positive for  the coronavirus.

  Of course, the tournament should have been played last spring. The 2020-21 season might not start until after the turn of the year

  Also matching a record, Rafael Nadal routed Novak Djokovic at the French Open to win his 20th Grand Slam Singles title, pulling even with Roger Federer. It was Nadal’s 13th title at the French Open. Nadal destroyed Djokovic, the world’s No. 1 player, in three sets, 6-0, 6-2, 7-5.

  On the football field, or off it now, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott will miss the rest of the season after suffering a compound fracture and dislocation to his right ankle that required surgery. A photo shows his foot attached at the wrong angle.

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