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Women’s March in D.C. draws thousands to protest high court nominee, Trump

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Leaders hoped to bring a final show of force before Nov. 3, with over 429 marches in all 50 states.
WASHINGTON — Wearing costumes and carrying signs, thousands of people gathered for the Women’s March in downtown Washington and in cities across the country Saturday to protest the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett and to build momentum to vote President Trump out of the White House. Women wore white lace collars and black robes to honor the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and red robes and white bonnets to mock the woman expected to take her seat – vivid reminders of the cultural battles playing out in the country and the intensity of emotions swirling in the weeks before the election. Some there for the march faced off in a tense confrontation with a group of counterprotesters at the Supreme Court who had come to support Barrett and oppose abortion, yelling, “Keep your laws off my body!” Ginger Belmonte,23, said she had come from her home in Frederick County, Maryland, to Washington every weekend since Ginsburg died. “Every weekend, the signs are getting a little more hostile and darker,” she said. The child-care provider said this year’s march feels even more urgent than the first one, after Trump’s inauguration. “We didn’t know the severity of how bad it was going to be,” she said. Now, especially with the new makeup of the Supreme Court, “it’s actually happening.” Nearly four years after an election that galvanized millions of protesters to march in cities nationwide – many of them for the first time – Women’s March leaders hoped to bring a final show of force before Nov.3 with a rally in the nation’s capital and in more than 429 marches across all 50 states. In Houston, Chicago, New York, San Diego and other cities across the nation, people posted photos of events, most with people wearing masks and standing at a distance in an attempt to gather safely despite the coronavirus pandemic. Organizers had discouraged participants from traveling to D.C. from states that are on the self-quarantine list, encouraging them to attend local marches or to get involved with its text-a-thon efforts to get out the vote. Still, some drove from New Jersey, West Virginia, Florida, New York and other states to be at the epicenter of power. The march took place days before the Senate holds its first vote to confirm Barrett to replace Ginsburg, a liberal leader and feminist icon. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on the nomination of Barrett, who would cement the conservative advantage on the court. The Republican majority is expected to approve the nomination. Tensions over the nomination came to a head outside the Supreme Court on Saturday afternoon, as marchers confronted several dozen counterprotesters who were chanting Barrett’s “ACB” and holding anti-abortion posters. They were quickly drowned out by the several thousand Women’s March attendees, who countered by yelling, “RBG” and “My body, my choice.” “We have the votes!” Students for Life protesters chanted, holding up signs with pictures of fetuses with messages such as “She could be Audrey,” “She could be Oprah” and “She could be Alexandria.

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