Trump urges Republicans to consider his choice to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg ‘without delay’

US President Donald Trump on Saturday (early Sunday, NZT) urged the Republican-led Senate to consider “without delay” its next nomination for the Supreme Court seat left vacant after the judge’s death. Ruth Bader Ginsburg just six weeks before the election.

The White House was preparing to select a candidate for the Ginsburg seat, who spent his last years on the bank as the undisputed leader of the liberal wing of the court.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised Friday night, hours after Ginsburg’s death, to call a vote for whoever would nominate Trump. Democrats said Republicans should follow the precedent they set in 2016 by not considering a Supreme Court election in the run-up to the election.

Trump made his point of view clear in a tweet on Saturday: “We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of whom has long been regarded as the selection of the American Supreme Court. Court judges. We have this obligation, without delay! “

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said any vote should be made after the Nov.3 election. “Voters must choose the president and the president must choose the judge to consider,” Biden said.

READ MORE:
* How the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg could reshape the US presidential campaign
* Republicans promise to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the November US elections.
* The Supreme Court of the United States says that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died at the age of 87.

The looming showdown over the vacant seat, when to fill it and with whom, is sure to significantly affect the final stretch of the presidential race, further stirring passions in a nation already reeling from the pandemic that has killed nearly 200,000 people and it has left millions unemployed. and increased partisan tensions and anger.

McConnell, who sets the calendar in the Senate and has made judicial appointments his priority, unequivocally stated in a statement that Trump’s nominee would receive a confirmation vote in the chamber. In 2016, McConnell refused to consider the election of President Barack Obama to the high court months before the election, ultimately preventing a vote.

When the nation learned of Ginsburg’s death, Trump did not know it and spoke for more than an hour and a half at a rally in Minnesota without mentioning it. He huddled with his assistants after coming off the stage, but was shocked when he spoke to reporters moments later, saying he did not know she had died.

The president told reporters that Ginsburg was “an incredible woman who led an incredible life.” Aides were concerned about how the Minnesota crowd would react if Trump mentioned his death from the stage, according to a White House official not authorized to publicly discuss private deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

But Trump had signaled in his rally speech that the next presidential term could offer him up to four appointments to the nine-member tribunal, whose members are confirmed for life. “This is going to be the most important election in the history of our country and we have to do it well,” he added.

A confirmation vote in the Senate is not guaranteed, even with a Republican majority. McConnell has not indicated whether he will vote before the election.

Typically, it takes several months to review and hold hearings on a Supreme Court candidate, and there is little time before elections. Key senators may be reluctant to cast votes this close to elections. With a slim Republican majority, 53 seats in the 100-member chamber, Trump’s election could afford to lose only a few.

McConnell did not specify when, but trying to confirm in a post-election session whether Trump had lost to Biden or the Republicans had lost the Senate would lead to further political complications.

Democrats immediately denounced McConnell’s move as hypocritical, noting that he refused to hold hearings for Merrick Garland, Obama’s election, 237 days before the 2016 election. The 2020 election is 46 days away.

Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer, in a tweet, echoed word for word what McConnell said in 2016 about Garland’s nomination: “The American people should have a say in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice. . Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president. “

Trump said last month that he would “absolutely” try to fill a vacancy if one arose before the end of his first term. “I’d move fast,” Trump said in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “Why not? I mean, they would. The Democrats would if they were in this position.”

Trump added 20 names to his list of candidates last week that he vowed to pick if he has future vacancies to fill. He contrasted his list with the anonymous “radical justices” who claimed that Biden would nominate and that they would “fundamentally transform America without a single vote from Congress.”

Trump published a similar list in 2016 in an attempt to win over conservative and evangelical voters who had doubts about his conservative credentials. Among those on his current list: Senators Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton, former Attorney General Noel Francisco, and Judge Amy Coney Barrett of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, long one of the Conservative favorites.

The average number of days to confirm a judge, according to the Congressional Investigative Service, is 69, which would be after the election. But some Republicans were quick to note that Ginsburg was confirmed in just 42 days.

Four Republican defections could defeat a nomination, while Vice President Mike Pence could break a tied vote.

Senators to watch include Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah and others.

Collins is in a tight race for his own re-election, as are several other Republican senators, including Cory Gardner in Colorado. Murkowski and Romney have been critical of Trump and protectors of the Senate institution.

Some Republicans, including Collins and Murkowski, have previously suggested that hearings should wait if a seat opens. And because the Arizona Senate race is a special election, that seat could be filled on November 30, reducing the window for McConnell if Democratic nominee Mark Kelly maintains his lead.

In a note to his Republican colleagues Friday night, McConnell urged them to “keep the powder dry” and not rush to state a position on whether a Trump candidate should get a vote this year.

“For those of you who are unsure how to respond, or for those who are inclined to object to casting a vote for a nominee, I urge you to keep your powder dry,” McConnell wrote. “This is not the time to prematurely lock yourself into a position that you later regret.”

McConnell argued that there would be enough time to fill the vacancy and reaffirmed his argument that the 2016 Senate precedent, in which a Republican-controlled Senate blocked Obama’s election year nomination, did not establish a rule that applies. to the Ginsburg case. Under McConnell, the Senate changed the confirmation rules to allow a simple majority.

Obama asked Republicans to wait, saying that “a basic principle of the law, and of everyday justice, is that we apply the rules consistently and not on the basis of what is convenient or advantageous at the time.”

One difference from 2016 is that, despite the vacancy resulting from Ginsburg’s death, the Conservatives have an active five-judge majority on a variety of issues. When Antonin Scalia died four years ago, the court was divided between four liberals and four conservatives.

The upcoming election could shape important decisions, including the right to abortion, as well as any legal challenges that may arise from the 2020 election. The 2018 hearings on the second election of Trump, now Judge Brett Kavanaugh, turned into a bitter partisan battle after allegations of sexual assault were made.

Biden has promised to nominate a black woman to the superior court if he gets the chance. She has said she is also working on a list of possible nominees, but the campaign has given no indication that she will release names before the election.