Table of contents for October 5, 2020 in TIME Magazine

This year’s list looks far different than any of us could have predicted just six months ago WE’VE BEEN DOING THE TIME 100 LIST OF the world’s most influential people for nearly 20 years. But there has never been a year like this. A year of multiple crises, all over the world, all at once. And so this year’s list looks far different than any of us could have predicted just six months ago. The TIME 100 has always been a mirror of the world and those who shape it. While you will certainly find people who wield traditional power on this year’s list—heads of state, CEOs, major entertainers—it also includes many extraordinary, lesser-known individuals who seized the moment to save lives, build a movement, lift the spirit, repair…

Justice Ginsburg described her dissents as “appealing to the intelligence of a future day,” and this was never truer than when she found herself in the minority in the 2013 voting-rights case Shelby County v. Holder. The majority opinion rolled back the protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and let states change their voting procedures without any outside oversight. But Ginsburg knew what that meant and refused to pretend it wouldn’t erode the advances made under the act. Passed to ensure no citizen would be denied the right to vote because of race or color, the Voting Rights Act prohibited discriminatory tests and devices and required jurisdictions with a history of significant discrimination against Black voters to get approval from the Justice Department or the district court in…

Frontline hero BY KATIE COURIC The sound of sirens is not unusual in New York City. But this spring, the constant wailing was almost unbearable. Luckily, there was an army of health care workers on the other end. Like Amy O’Sullivan, an 18-year veteran ER nurse at Wyckoff hospital in Brooklyn. She treated the first COVID-19 patient at the hospital, who became the city’s first death in early March, before the importance of PPE was truly understood. Amy began displaying symptoms a few days later. After she was intubated and spent four days on a ventilator, she went home to rest for less than two weeks before returning to work. Amy is just one of the millions of health care workers worldwide who risked everything to service others. Many moved…

SUNDAR PICHAI Meeting the moment BY JAMIE DIMON Taking the helm of an iconic American company and positioning it for long-term success in a way that reflects your values is no easy task. Sundar Pichai’s uniquely American story—emigrating from India as a young adult and working his way to become CEO of a $1 trillion corporation—represents the best of what we aspire for our society. He used his natural gifts and strong work ethic to rise through the ranks of Google (now Alphabet) by leading many of their most successful products, such as Drive, Gmail and Maps, and officially took the reins of the company in December. Google is a client, partner and competitor of ours, but we both recognize that our success is dependent on a healthy and…

The Republican argument for immediately nominating and confirming a replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg is now stripped of all pretext. It’s about raw power. In fact, it can be boiled down to three words: elections have consequences. Even when Americans are voting in a presidential election that will end in less than seven weeks. If you’d listened to Republicans before this moment, this raw power politics appears new. When they blocked Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court, they claimed a neutral principle was at stake. Their argument? When an election looms, let the people decide. While much can happen between now and Nov. 3, the Democrats may well hold the House, narrowly take control of the Senate and win the White House. At that point, they’d have the…

THE WEEKND Phenomenal musician BY ELTON JOHN This year, I met Abel Tesfaye, who performs as the Weeknd, at an Oscars party. He said I would be excited when I heard his new album, After Hours, but didn’t tell me why. That seemed to sum him up. He’s a mysterious figure in an era when mystery is rare in pop. And you never know what to expect next. He plays with personae in his music and presentation: on the After Hours cover, he’s dripping in blood; you’re never sure if he’s singing about himself, or if he’s in character. He’s got an incredible imagination. It turned out he’d used the chorus of “Your Song” on a track called “Scared to Live”—he was right, I was excited—but he’ll also sample…

MEGAN THEE STALLION Tenacious talent BY TARAJI P. HENSON I remember hearing Megan Thee Stallion on one of those famous DJ radio shows a few years ago. She rode the beat like I’d never heard anybody ride the beat in a long time—and I’m a hip-hop head. There was something about this woman. Once you discover her, you become a fan. I don’t like to put the stigma of the word strong on Black women because I think it dehumanizes us, but she has strength—strength through vulnerability. She’s lost much of her family—her mother, her father, her grandmother—yet she is the epitome of tenacity, of pulling herself up by her bootstraps. She was shot this summer, and still people tried to tear her down. But she’s out here still…

ON MARCH 15, 2019, LEGIONS OF RUTH BADER GINSBURG’S admirers celebrated her 86th birthday by testing their core strength, doing plank poses on the steps of courthouses around the country. The gritty determination that had shaped Ginsburg’s legal career had also made her workout regimen famous, but neither could go on forever. Ginsburg died on Sept. 18 at the age of 87 of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer. The workout tribute to a Supreme Court Justice was one of the many ways members of a new generation demonstrated their love for the 5-ft.-tall legal giant who had made the lives they live possible. In the early ’70s—after Gloria Steinem went underground as a Playboy Bunny to expose sexism and Betty Friedan wrote a feminist manifesto about “the problem with no…

ANTHONY FAUCI Public servant BY JIMMY KIMMEL As the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread to the U.S., there was one person millions of Americans immediately knew we could turn to for guidance: Dr. Anthony Fauci. As director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Fauci has advised six Presidents over 36 years. When COVID-19 reared its ugly head, he was among the first to step forward with facts and only facts. Dr. Fauci doesn’t sugarcoat his words and refuses to be pressured by politicians. He delivers the truth, as difficult as it may be to hear, earnestly and with one goal: to save lives. His courage and candor have earned our trust. We are all fortunate to have a man of his wisdom, experience and integrity to…

REMEMBRANCE Ruth Bader Ginsburg appeared on the cover of the 2015 TIME 100. The accompanying tribute was written by her longtime friend and colleague on the Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016 Ruth Bader Ginsburg has had two distinguished legal careers, either one of which would alone entitle her to be one of TIME’s 100. When she was a law professor at Rutgers and later Columbia, she became the leading (and very successful) litigator on behalf of women’s rights—the Thurgood Marshall of that cause, so to speak. President Carter appointed her to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1980, and President Clinton to a seat on the Supreme Court in 1993. Having had the good fortune to serve…