ROMNEY BACKS VOTE ON TRUMP'S COURT PICK

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump's push to cement a conservative majority on the Supreme Court received a boost on Tuesday as a longtime rival, Republican Senator Mitt Romney, said the chamber should vote on a replacement for liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Romney's decision left Democrats with few hopes of blocking Senate confirmation of the Republican president's third appointment to the nine-member high court, giving it a 6-3 conservative majority. Trump has said he plans to announce his nominee by Saturday.

Romney, the party's 2012 presidential nominee, is one of the few Republicans in Congress willing to criticize Trump, and he even voted to remove him from office in the February impeachment trial.