◼POLITICS BloombergBusinessweek August 10, 2020totakeout.RestaurantrevenueinHongKong
fell29%inthefirsthalfofthisyearcompared with
the same period in 2019, according to government
data. The Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and
RelatedTradesforecasta HK$3billionlossofreve-
nueinJulyfrombusinessesnotabletoservecustom-
ersintheevenings.Lo,theacademic,estimatesthat
one-thirdtohalfofyellowrestaurantsmayclose.
ThelongerCovidrestrictionsareinplace,themore
businessesstrugglejusttostayafloat—nevermind
continuetheirfightforchange.
“Thepaceofthemovementhasbeenslowing
down, and it seems the fire to sustain it may
die soon,” says Carrie Lau, the 30-year-old
ownerofC+Burger,whoreluctantlyreplaced
pro-democracy posters with blank sheets of paper
becausecustomersfearedshe’dbearrested.“Yet
I’mstilloptimisticaboutthefuture.Aslongasour
generationis stillhere,wewon’tbebrainwashed
by Beijing, and we still have ways of making
change. The journey may be a long one, but we’ll
nevergiveup.”�SheridanPrasso32
ZACH GIBSON/GETTY IMAGES● Social conservatives doubt the bona fides of a
judge floated as a future Supreme Court justiceIs Neomi Rao Far
Enough Right?
THE BOTTOM LINE To comply with Hong Kong’s national security
law, “yellow” businesses are adopting clever forms of expression.
But many won’t survive the economic blow of the pandemic.activists at such groups as the Heritage Foundation
and the Federalist Society that have long advised
Republican presidents on judicial appointments
and have helped Trump on his quest to appoint
judges at a faster pace than his predecessors.
Recentlythatmovementhascomeunderfirefrom
socialconservatives,whosayit’smainlydelivered
business-friendly judges who rule against unions
and strike down regulations while failing right-
wing voters who care more about restricting abor-
tion, immigration, and LGBTQ rights. The dispute
could fundamentally reshape the judicial selec-
tion process on the right, starting with a new list
of potential Supreme Court nominees the presi-
dent has promised to release next month.
In June social conservatives felt betrayed
whenGorsuchwrotea majorityopinionprotect-
inggayandtransgenderemployeesfromwork-
placediscrimination. (Republican Senator Ted
Cruz of Texas blasted the decision as “lawless.”)
Theiralarmincreasedasthecourtwentonto
blocktheWhiteHousefromendingObama-era
protectionsfortheundocumentedimmigrants
knownasDreamersandallowedstatestolimit
churchservices during the pandemic.
Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican,
said in a floor speech in June that Gorsuch’s ruling
marked “the end of the conservative legal move-
ment.” He’d raised similar concerns last year when
he questioned Rao’s social conservative bona fides
before her appointment to the appeals bench.
It’s unclear how that disquiet will affect the
president, who views his Supreme Court sugges-
tions as a means of motivating voters before the
election. Rao, who once spearheaded the admin-
istration’s deregulation agenda, has emerged as a
favorite of business-minded conservatives, while
religious conservatives have gravitated toward
potential nominees such as Amy Coney Barrett,
a devout Catholic whom Trump appointed to
the federal appeals court in Chicago and who
appeared on his previous Supreme Court short-
list. “You hear people talking about Team Amy vs.In less than a year and a half since being appointed
to the federal appeals court in Washington, Judge
Neomi Rao has consistently sided with the White
House in politically charged cases, earning her a
reputation as President Trump’s strongest sup-
porter on the bench and fueling talk that he may
name her to the Supreme Court if he gets the
chance. Two of the nine justices on the high court,
Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, were nomi-
nated by Trump. The health problems of Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg have liberals worried about
him possibly getting to pick a third.
If Rao were to get that nod, Democrats would
be incensed. But her biggest obstacle may be
emerging on the right.
Rao, 47, has been championed for years by
the conservative legal movement, a network of◀ Rao replaced Brett
Kavanaugh on the
federal appeals court
in Washington“You hear
people talking
about Team
Amy vs. Team
Neomi”