Trump to nominate woman judge for SC

● TRUMP SAID he is within his rights to fill the vacancy in the US Supreme Court, a move that has infuriated Democrats, who fear Republicans will vote to lock in a decades-long conservative majority on the country’s top court.

Washington, Sept. 20: President Donald Trump has said he will next week nominate a woman to replace the late US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, escalating a political row with the Democrats over her successor weeks before the presidential election.

“I will be putting forth a nominee next week. I could say most likely it would be a woman. I think I can say that. If somebody were to ask me now I would say that a woman would be in first place,” Trump told supporters at an election rally in North Carolina on Saturday.

Ginsburg, a history-making jurist, feminist icon and a champion of women’s rights and social justice, died of cancer on Friday. She was 87. She was the second woman ever to serve as a justice on the nation’s highest court. Trump said he is within his rights to fill the vacancy in the US Supreme Court, a move that has infuriated Democrats, who fear Republicans will vote to lock in a decades-long conservative majority on the country’s top court.

“We have great respect for the process. This has happened numerous times and every time there was a nominee as you know. There’s been many occasions where frankly it turned out to be during a presidential year,” he told reporters. “I think we’re going to start the process extremely soon.

We will have a nominee very soon,” he said, adding that there about 45 people on his list, but he does have a “short list” for potential nominees.

During the rally, Trump asked his Republican supporters whether the nominee should be a man or a woman. The crowd cheered loudly for a female candidate. “That’s a very accurate poll (crowd reaction) because that’s the way I feel. I actually like women much more than I like men. I have to say. It would be a woman. A very talented, very intelligent woman,” the president said, adding that a final name had not been zeroed in on. He also discussed how he has the power to fill the vacant seat in the Supreme Court where justices serve for life or until they choose to retire. “So, Article 2 of the Constitution says that the President shall nominate justices of the Supreme Court. I don’t think it can be any more clear, can it?” he underlined.