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President Donald Trump met with Justice Amy Coney Barrett at the White House on Monday when the conservative jurist emerged as a frontrunner to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.
The measures mark the beginning of a monumental confirmation fight in the Senate over objections from Democrats that the appointment would get too close to the November election.
Trump said he expected to announce his election by the end of the week, before the court’s liberal icon, Ms Ginsburg, is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
The president told reporters that he will still interview other candidates and that he may meet with Judge Barbara Lagoa when he travels to Florida later this week.
But Ms. Barrett has long been favored by conservatives, and those familiar with the process said interest within the White House appeared to be waning for Ms. Lagoa amid concerns by some that she did not she had a proven track record as a conservative jurist.
Democrats, led by presidential candidate Joe Biden, are protesting the Republicans’ rush to replace Ms. Ginsburg, saying voters should speak first, on Election Day Nov. 3, and that the winner of the White House should fill the vacancy.
Trump dismissed those arguments, telling Fox & Friends: “I think it would be good for the Republican Party, and I think it would be good for everyone to end this.”
The escalating showdown over the vacant position, when to fill it, and with whom, injects new turbulence into the presidential campaign with the nation still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 200,000 Americans, left millions unemployed and has increased tensions and partisan anger.
So far, the race has largely been a referendum on how Trump has handled or mismanaged the Covid-19 pandemic.
Democrats point to the hypocrisy of Republicans trying to rush an election so close to the election after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell led the Republican Party by refusing to vote on a candidate for President Barack Obama in February 2016, long before the elections that year.
Mr. Biden is appealing to Republican senators to “respect their constitutional duty, their conscience” and wait until after the election.
Conversations at the White House and McConnell’s office have increasingly focused on Ms. Barrett and Ms. Lagoa, according to a person who was granted anonymity to discuss the private deliberations.
An appeals court judge, Ms. Barrett was a strong contender for the position that ultimately went to Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. At the time, Trump told his confidants that he was “saving” Ms. Barrett for the position. from Mrs. Ginsburg.
Ms. Lagoa has been pressured by some attendees who tout her political advantages of being Hispanic and coming from the state of Florida, a key political battlefield.
Trump said he planned to name his pick for Friday or Saturday, before the first debate of the presidential election. With just over a month before the election, McConnell said the Senate had “more than enough time.”
No nominee has won confirmation so quickly since Sandra Day O’Connor, unopposed from either party, became the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court in 1981.
Ms. Ginsburg, 87, died Friday of metastatic pancreatic cancer. She will remain in state at the United States Capitol this week, the first woman to receive that honor. First, her coffin will be on display in the middle of the week on the high court steps.
She will be buried next week in a private service at Arlington National Cemetery.
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