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JOE BIDEN HAS attacked the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and the top Republicans in the Senate for trying to push for a replacement for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The Democratic presidential candidate’s extraordinary televised appeal to Republican senators reflected the fierce maneuvers that followed Ginsburg’s death on Friday.
His death upended a campaign that, until then, had focused on Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the nation’s economic collapse and the race riots that have fueled protests in American cities.
Trump has said he intends to name a woman to succeed Ginsburg in a few days, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was addressing the first hearings this week.
Just hours before Biden spoke yesterday, a second Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joined Senator Susan Collins of Maine in opposing efforts to fill the Ginsburg seat before the next president is elected.
It takes four Republicans to break ranks and keep Trump’s nominee out of the Supreme Court.
Attention quickly turned to Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, who voted to convict Trump on an impeachment charge, and Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a former chair of the judicial committee.
Biden acknowledged that those Republicans and others like them were his target audience when he warned that Trump’s plan was an “abuse of power.”
“Do your constitutional duty, your conscience,” Biden said, speaking on the Pennsylvania battlefield. Let the people speak. Cool the flames that have taken over our country. “
There was little chance that the calm would overtake the historic campaign as early voting progressed and the death toll from the virus reached 200,000 Americans.
‘Arrows in our quiver’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House has “options” that she did not name to delay or prevent the Senate from confirming Ginsburg’s successor to the lifetime office.
“We have arrows in our quiver that I am not going to discuss at this point,” Pelosi said on ABC’s This Week.
The Chamber does not have any formal role in confirming the Supreme Court justices. But Pelosi would not rule out a new round of impeachment proceedings that could divert the Senate’s attention, although that route seemed unlikely.
Republicans have a 53-47 lead in the Senate. If there was a 50-50 tie, Vice President Mike Pence could break it.
I was honored to preside over Justice Ginsburg’s confirmation hearings and to support her accession to the Supreme Court. Your opinions and dissent will form the basis of our law for generations to come, and as a result we will be a more just and equal nation. pic.twitter.com/SmZD2KyyyG
– Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 20, 2020
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Trump has said he is obligated to act as soon as possible and had at least two women in mind for the position.
Most Republicans agreed on the need for speed, and one mentioned a practical reason. The nine-member court, argued Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, must be complete if it is asked to decide the outcome of a disputed presidential election.
But Biden and other Democrats said voters should choose the next president, who should then choose Ginsburg’s successor. Health care, abortion rights and religious freedom are at stake, they said.
Biden, who has run to unite the country after Trump’s divisive tenure and impart a sense of comfort to desperate Americans, warned against further unrest.
“The last thing we need is a constitutional crisis that plunges us further into the abyss and further into darkness,” he said. He acknowledged that if Trump wins, his election should be approved.
But he added: “If I win this election, President Trump’s candidate should be removed and, as the new president, I should be the one to appoint the successor to Justice Ginsburg.
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