Now some Democratic voters fear what will come next. 

“The future of this country is at stake,” Mohammad Sikandar, a young voter and the Political Director of Progressive Democrats of New Jersey said. “This includes the potential dismantling of Roe v. Wade, reinforcement of Voter ID Laws and racist bannings, as seen with Mr. Trump’s Muslim ban. One Supreme Court Nominee could impact decades of work that our communities have put into various movements.” 

Democrats were hoping that the Republican majority would follow the precedent they set when they blocked President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick B. Garland, from receiving a hearing with eight months left in his term.  They said it was too close to Election Day. But now with a Republican president at the helm, the majority has changed its mind.

Daniel Brown, a New Jersey prosecutor said that the rushed nomination is being politicized and the outcome should be based on the law and concepts of justice. 

 “The Republican party ought to follow precedent and there are several reasons for this,” said Brown.“ This is at best a 25th hour appointment. When Mitt Romney said that the confirmation will move ahead because both the President and the Senate are from the same party, to me, that translated to: we are proceeding because we have the political power to do so.”

Dr. Elizabeth Hull, Chair of the Political Science Department at Rutgers Newark, said if the Supreme Court confirmation occurs, the decisions that will be made moving forward will not serve as a “neutral empire”  worthy of the public’s support.

“In the past, most of us have accepted the court’s decisions, however much we may have disagreed with them,” said Hull. “ I am no longer convinced that will be the case now.”

Two Republican senators who have broke ranks with President Trump on a Supreme Court confirmation are Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. Ruth Weinar Sherman Ross of West Orange, New Jersey,  said that they aren’t withholding their votes to go against their party, but because they are prioritizing different interests.

“Susan Collins is in a tough spot. She is running against a very strong young woman [Sara Gideon] who also happens to be a Democratic contender in Maine’s Senate Race,” said Ross. “Murkowski is a different story. She has shown herself willing to follow—if only sometimes—principle.”

Dylan Terpstra, the student body president at Rutgers University–Newark, said he does not see any hope of  delaying  a confirmation. 

“I think procedurally Democrats can’t really do anything about it,” Terpestra said. “The Republican party has the majority votes, which gives them the  power to set the agenda. They can decide what to delay. He can’t be stopped at this point. There is no doubt in my mind that America will have a conservative court. ” 

But there is still hope that Romney may change his mind.

On Wednesday, when Trump was asked whether he would commit to a peaceful transition, he said he needs to see what happens and believes he would win  the election without the expansion of mail-in voting during the pandemic. His comment prompted Romney to speak out, once again, against the president. 

 “Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus. Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable,” Romney said. 

Despite the potential outcome, Brown still has trust in the institution. 

“There are so many examples of people growing, evolving and surprising us with their positions,” Brown said. “One of my favorite Justices on the Supreme Court is Hugo Black.  He was prior to that a member of the Ku Klux Klan who then became a great protector of individual rights and individual liberties. I will continue to have faith in the Supreme Court. I will continue to have faith in the law as a whole.” 

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At a White House Coronavirus Task Force news conference  yesterday, President Trump responded to the news by saying “Romney’s in isolation? Gee, that’s too bad”.

Trump and Romney have clashed on a number of issues, most recently over Romney’s sole Republican vote to convict Trump for abuse of power in his impeachment trial. Asked whether President Trump intended sarcasm with his comment, the President responded “No, no, none whatsoever”. His tone suggested otherwise, though.

Senator Romney and Senator Paul are amongst five senators currently quarantined, including Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), Senator Cory Gardner (R-Colorado) and Senator Rick Scott (R-Florida).

At the press conference, President Trump continued to refer to the coronavirus as “the Chinese virus”, despite the virus having spread significantly throughout the world and Italy having overtaken China as the virus’s epicenter. President Trump also claimed that China did not give the US significant warning about the severity of the virus.

“I’m a little upset with China,” said President Trump. “They should have told us about this.” 

Vice-President Mike Pence announced at the conference that 254,000 Americans have now been tested for the coronavirus, with just over 30,000 testing positive. The President said that the FDA has just approved a coronavirus test which will deliver results within 45 minutes. Manufacturing will begin before the end of March.

President Trump announced that the National Guard has been deployed to New York, California and Washington. The states will also be receiving respirators, surgical masks, gloves and other medical supplies. Medical stations will also be supplied to these states providing additional beds for COVID-19 patients. Trump stressed that the states would not be financially responsible for these resources, which would be funded by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency).

On the topic of whether undocumented persons seeking coronavirus testing and treatment could be subject to arrest and deportation, the President offered no guarantee that this would not happen. 

Side-stepping the question, Vice-President Mike Pence said that Customs and Border Protection does not target hospitals or testing facilities. President Trump said that undocumented persons would have access to virus testing. However neither offered a conclusive answer as to whether or not an undocumented person could be arrested or deported following coronavirus testing or treatment.

Without giving a definite timeline as to how long current lockdowns and restrictions will remain in place, the President said that the current restrictions would be reassessed after 15 days (since their announcement on March 15).

“I think you have to shut it down and you have to see,” said  Trump. “But there’ll be a point at which we say ‘We’re back in business. Let’s go.”’

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Dan Shockley, 37, from East Harlem wears a pin criticizing the two-party system. Photo by Alex Jung.

Ahead of the November presidential elections, protestors gathered for a day of action Monday morning in Manhattan’s Financial District in an attempt to re-energize a movement that has flagged since the spring and voice their discontent with an Obama administration that has done little to deliver on the promise of his 2008 campaign.

“From a conservative point of view, people lump liberals, Democrats, Occupy, and Obama,” said Sally Jane Kerschen-Sheppard, 34, from Inwood. “Occupiers would not lump themselves into those categories.”

“Occupy is just as disenchanted with Obama as they are with the Republican Party,” she said.

Many protestors admitted part of the reason why they joined the Occupy movement was because they were beginning to feel disillusioned after four years of the Obama administration.

“I was an Obama supporter,” said Dan Shockley, 37, from East Harlem as he moved a massive cloth boulder filled with a paper, a symbol of the debt that saddles people.

“I’m very unhappy with him, especially on issues of privacy, civil rights, and military detentions,” he said. “He’s taken everything from the Bush era and continued it.”

For many protestors, they perceive little difference between President Obama and his Republican challenger, former Mass. Governor, Mitt Romney.

“Choosing between Obama and Romney is like choosing between Coke and Pepsi,” said Susan Rubin, 52, a mother of three who came down from Chappaqua, New York. “I want to choose water.”

Many Occupy protestors are also looking to voice their discontent at the ballot box.

“We thought things were really going to change,” said Theresa Lee, 53, from Washington Heights. “We thought there was going to be equity of wealth—not this disparity.”

“I’m voting for a third party candidate, the Green Party, probably,” she said. “Somebody has to move the Democratic Party. Someone has to pull [Obama] to the left, otherwise, this is what we’re stuck with.”

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein speaks to reporters in front of the National Museum of the American Indian at Occupy Wall Street. Photo by Alex Jung.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein spoke in front of the National Museum of the American Indian on the south side of Bowling Green.

“My campaign and the Green party and other small progressive parties represent real independent-people-powered politics,” Stein said. “My campaign is the only voice for that people-powered politics in the presidential election.”

Many see Stein’s presidential run as an important mechanism for keeping certain issues like poverty, predatory lending practices, and soaring student debt in the national conversation.

“There’s more than one way of winning an election,” said Dr. Stein. “We can also win an election by winning the day—driving these issues forward, getting into the debate, changing the debate, and really challenging power.”

Others though, are still worried about what a vote for Stein or another third party candidate would do for the fortunes of Romney.

“Every time I think about voting for a third party, I have that Nader flashback from 2000,” said Kerschen-Sheppard.

“I’m not thrilled with Obama, but my hands are tied,” said Danielle Abrams, 44, an adjunct professor at CUNY from Kensington, Brooklyn.

“At this point, it’s the only way out,” she said. “A vote for a third party candidate is a vote for Romney.”

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In a night where no surprises were expected, none were had. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has won all five states up for grabs in today’s primary elections.

On the ballot today were Romney, former Senator Rick Santorum (who dropped out too late to have his name wiped from the slate), former Congressman Newt Gingrich and Congressman Ron Paul.

For a time in this frantic, tumultuous, protracted primary season, it was thought that these Northeast states might have a meaningful say in the outcome of the race to the Republican presidential nomination. But when Santorum suspended his campaign on April 10th, Romney officially took on the mantle of President Barack Obama’s top challenger.

Now that the polls are closed and over 90 percent of the votes have been tallied, the results reflect an unequivocal win for Romney. According to the Associated Press, he received over 55 percent of the vote in each state, climbing up to nearly 68 percent in Connecticut.

Santorum’s numbers did not break 10 percent in any state except his home state of Pennsylvania, where he climbed to over 18 percent. Gingrich and Paul, however, raked in consistently modest but notable results — Gingrich topping 27 percent in Delaware and Paul approaching 25 percent in Rhode Island.

Romney’s victory speech reflected his new status as presumptive nominee, as he attacked Obama.

“Tonight is the start of a new campaign to unite every American who knows in their heart that we can do better!” he said from a celebration in New Hampshire. “The last few years have been the best that Barack Obama can do, but it’s not the best America can do!”

But the inevitability of Romney’s win also resulted in an extremely low turn-out. In New York City, even at a heavily Republican polling site, traffic was nearly non-existent. Public School 52 in Staten Island houses six election districts that are home to 1433 registered Republicans. But by 2:00 p.m., only a handful of voters had cast their ballot. In one election district with approximately 250 eligible voters, only two had checked the box for their candidate of choice.

Polling site coordinator Rosemarie Catrama has been working election days at P.S. 52 for five years, but this was one of the quietest she’s seen.

“I think most of the people know who the Republican primary candidate is going to be, so there’s not much to choose from this time,” she said.

Despite the certainty of today’s election results, the nomination will not be official until the Republican convention in late August, and Romney does not yet have the 1144 delegates he needs to lock that in. But tonight’s election results bring him much closer to the magic number.

The 2011-2012 Republican nominating contest began more than a year ago, well in advance of the first caucus in Iowa on January 3.

Until now, Romney was never able to completely break away from the pack. His front-runner status was always in question as Santorum surged and Gingrich held on.

Today’s sweep of wins finally gives Romney an official trouncing of his rivals. But it also puts to an effective end the roller coaster ride of a primary season has gone from something like Space Mountain to something more like the tea cup ride at Disney World.

Over a year ago, Donald Trump took the presidential primary stage. He grabbed attention by professing the “birther” argument, suggesting that Obama was not born in the United States even though the claim had been repeatedly debunked.

Herman Cain’s candidacy spiked and then plummeted this fall amid major gaffes and multiple allegations of workplace sexual harassment.

In August, 2011, Congresswoman and Tea Party firebrand Michelle Bachmann won what’s known as the Ames straw poll in Iowa, which some pundits said was a sign her candidacy stood a chance of victory in that state’s official primary contest. But her numbers did not sustain her, bringing her only a paltry sixth-place finish.

For a time it seemed that Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, might walk off with the nomination. His candidacy took off as conservative Republicans rallied around him. But after a memory meltdown during a live televised debate in which he could not recall one of the three federal agencies he would seek to shutter, his campaign floundered and never recovered.

Not long after he announced his candidacy for president, Newt Gingrich sailed off on a cruise with his wife. Soon, the political punditry declared his campaign dead as his organization seemed scrambled and his coffers seemed to run dry. But the former Speaker of the House made a surprise comeback in late 2011, surging in the polls and giving Romney yet another run for his money.

Gingrich’s numbers had cooled in the weeks before the Iowa caucus — the nation’s first primary contest. Few predicted Santorum’s win there, and it was indeed so close that the 34 vote margin wasn’t declared until more than two weeks later.

Since the primary elections started to roll across the country, most of the votes have been shared among Romney, Santorum and Gingrich, with nominal but consistent numbers going to Paul. Though Romney pulled out several victories, it was never enough to shake off his competitors and cinch the nomination.

Finally, with tonight’s cluster of unquestionable wins, the Romney campaign can officially call his nomination inevitable — something they had been hoping, and trying to do throughout the past year.

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