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Donald Trump meets resistance with his attempt to nominate a successor to the late Constitutional Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg ahead of the November 3 election.
Justices to the United States Supreme Court are nominated by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and appointed for life. Republicans have a majority in the Senate with 53 out of 100 votes, but several Republican senators oppose Trump’s plans.
Lisa Murkowski, a senator from Alaska, has now announced that she does not support Trump’s attempt to fill the Supreme Court seat so close to the election. She said she believed the same standard should apply as in 2016, when Republicans, citing the election year, blocked attempts by Democrats and President Barack Obama to vote on a successor to the late Constitutional Judge Antonin Scalia.
Earlier, Susan Collins, a senator from Maine, had expressed similar concerns. Collins defended that the Senate should only vote on the post of judge after the presidential election, on a candidate proposed by the winner of the election.
Without Collins and Murkowski, Republicans would still have a one-vote majority in the Senate. If other members joined the two senators and there was a 50:50 deadlock, the decision would fall to Vice President Mike Pence.
President Trump has announced that he will fill the Supreme Court position “without delay” and nominate a woman. He would prefer the Senate vote before the Nov. 3 presidential election, Trump said. He will name his candidate in the next week. Trump named judges Amy Coney Barrett of Chicago and Barbara Lagoa of Atlanta as possibilities.
Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have plenty of time for nominations and a vote. The election will take place on November 3. But the new Congress will not be sworn in until January 3, the next president on January 20. McConnell has already accepted Trump’s plan, but has not yet given a specific timetable.
The President of the United States has already appointed two Supreme Court justices: Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. Kavanaugh was barely confirmed after a former classmate accused him of sexual assault in 1982.
If Trump appointed another member of the college of judges, a conservative 6: 3 majority would be secured for a long time. That could seriously change the country (read more here). Ginsburg was an icon of liberal America.
