Activists at Amy Coney Barrett super-spreader event launch US bus tour

Two conservative activists who were at the White House’s Rose Garden event to announce the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the supreme court – now believed to be a super-spreader of the coronavirus – have launched a nationwide bus tour to promote the judge.

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The tour, led by a group called Concerned Women for America, has so far included stops in Georgia and South Carolina in which participants can be seen in close quarters and without wearing face masks.

In Georgia, the Republican senator Kelly Loeffler visited with the group – and was pictured without a mask – even though she attended the Rose Garden event and was in close contact with several participants who have since tested positive for Covid-19.

Loeffler has said she tested negative for the virus, according to media reports.

Pictures also show the CWA president, Penny Nance, and Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin, in close contact with supporters after both were pictured attending the Rose Garden event.

In response to the Guardian’s questions about safety, CWA said it would not offer a comment that could be used in this article, because it wanted its response to remain “off the record”.

The group’s website includes references to scripture and counts as its primary “concerns and goals” issues like; “protecting the unborn from abortion, fetal tissue experimentation, and embryonic research”; ending all forms of gambling; enshrining respect for “the distinctiveness of men and women”; and ending “sexual promiscuity” leading to the spread of HIV/Aids.

Annabelle Rutledge
(@Annabelle_Rut)

Great kickoff day for the #WomenforAmy bus tour! @CWforA @PYNance @AlisonHowardC pic.twitter.com/xqZ2GqO8Gc

October 7, 2020

The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has criticized Democrats and media groups, including the Guardian, for reporting on Barrett’s involvement in a secretive Christian charismatic organization, and for her stated views in opposition to abortion.

But in the promotion of Barrett, Penny Nance at CWA has emphasized the importance of Barrett’s Christianity, saying her nomination represented a “historic moment for conservative Christian women” who get to sit on the sideline and “witness the confirmation of one of our own, a conservative Christian constitutionalist”.

The tour – featuring a pink coach bus emblazoned with the words Women For Amy, and a picture of the nominee – will also include stops in North Carolina, Virginia, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Texas and Arizona.

It is not clear who is paying for the effort. In 2018, a similar tour was launched to defend the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, who came under fire following accusations that he committed sexual assault. Kavanaugh was eventually confirmed by the Senate’s Republican majority.

CWA has in the past received funds from the Judicial Crisis Network, a dark money organization that reportedly spent at least $12m on ads in support of the Kavanaugh confirmation.

The Guardian has previously reported that JCN has received funds from the Wellspring Committee, a conservative non-profit that has accepted tens of millions of dollars in donations from a single, anonymous donor. The group also funds the Federalist Society, which has advised the Trump administration on its conservative supreme court picks.