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Donald Trump will name Amy Coney Barrett as his choice to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court on Saturday, according to multiple reports.
Ginsburg died last Friday of pancreatic cancer at the age of 87. The president announced his third court election Saturday afternoon, an option that with Republican support in the Senate would firmly tilt the nine-member panel to the right. 6-3.
The New York Times, Associated Press and CBS were among the outlets on Friday citing anonymous sources in the administration and the Republican Party as saying the decision had been made, though CNN added a caveat.
“All sources have warned that until it is announced by the president, there is always the possibility that Trump will make a last minute change,” the network said.
Coney Barrett is a strict conservative whose position on abortion rights is of particular concern to Democrats and progressive groups.
Democrats also argue that a new judge should not be confirmed so close to the presidential election, given that Republicans refused to grant a hearing to Barack Obama’s supreme court nominee Merrick Garland in early 2016.
Public polls, including a new poll conducted Friday by the Washington Post and ABC News, have shown that the public agrees, and that continued majority support for Ginsburg’s replacement was decided after November 3.
But Republicans, under Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have shown no such scruples, evoking the argument that in the Garland case they held the Senate while the Democrats held the White House, but now unified control means that a confirmation should proceed.
In fact, there is no such precedent.
Although Moderate Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have disagreed, McConnell has the votes he needs to proceed.
“I’m confident [Trump’s] I’m going to make an outstanding nomination, ”the Majority Leader told Fox News, speaking before reports surfaced that Coney Barrett would be the pick, but after Trump said he would pick a woman.
“The American people are going to take a look at this nominee and conclude, as we are likely to conclude, that she well deserves to be confirmed before the US Supreme Court.
Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate Democratic whip, said: “They are hell-bent on doing this as quickly as possible. They think it helps Donald Trump get re-elected. “
The effect on the polls remains to be seen. Joe Biden currently leads in national polls and in most state polls.
Barrett is a rising conservative star. In 2018, when Trump appointed conservative Brett Kavanaugh to replace retired Anthony Kennedy, he allegedly told Barrett’s aides, “I’m saving it for Ginsburg.”
When Barrett was confirmed as an appeals court judge in 2017, California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein told her, “Dogma lives strongly in you.”
Barrett said, “I would like to emphasize that my personal church affiliation or my religious belief will not influence the performance of my duties as a judge.”
When asked if Barrett’s affiliation with the People of Praise, a strict religious community, could affect his decisions, Vice President Mike Pence jumped to his defense.
“I have to tell you that the intolerance expressed during your last confirmation about your Catholic faith, I really believe, was a disservice to the process and a disappointment to millions of Americans,” Pence, who has called himself an evangelical Catholic, told ABC. .
Barbara Lagoa, a Cuban-American from Florida, was also reported to be in dispute, possibly a politically potent option given Florida’s status as a key state in transition. But it was also reported that Trump had not even met her.
Justices of the Supreme Court can serve for life and have the power to shape American society itself for decades. Barrett, once an employee of the late hardline conservative Antonin Scalia, is 48 years old.
