President in tussle over US Supreme Court post
Senate leader attempts to nudge Trump away from choosing controversial conservative judge
THE Republican leader in the Senate is trying to steer Donald Trump away from picking a Supreme Court justice open to overturning abortion rights, fearing that the most controversial choice could provoke a bitter confir- mation battle. Mr Trump is due to make his announcement this evening.
Liberals and conservatives have already begun spending on TV ads, as they noisily prepare the ground for a political fight that would further expose America’s gaping divisions.
At the same time, Mitch Mcconnell, the Senate majority leader, has quietly been lobbying the president against choosing Amy Coney Barrett, an appeals court judge and a Catholic mother of seven, according to The New York Times. Her socially conservative views and affiliation with People of Praise, a tight-knit religious lay group, are already attracting suspicion. But Mr Trump has told aides he likes the idea of selecting a female justice at a time when he is frequently attacked for his attitude to women.
Instead the paper said Mr Mcconnell was advocating for Raymond Kethledge and Thomas Hardiman, who he believes would present fewer confirmation problems in the Senate.
Donald Trump had yesterday still not told his aides whom he has picked for the post of Supreme Court justice in what could be the most consequential decision of his presidency. He spent the weekend deliberating at his New Jersey golf club, ahead of a prime time televised announcement.
A seat on the bench fell vacant when Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement.
Liberals fear a conservative justice will tilt the country’s highest court decisively to the Right, and could even overturn its landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision that protects abortion rights.
Jeanne Zaino, professor of political science at Iona College, said: “Roe is certainly up for jeopardy. But you are also talking about first amendment issues, religious exercise, healthcare, issues of voting and civil rights, affirmative action, gay rights, women’s rights – a litany of issues where Kennedy was really controlling the court.”
Republicans who must steer the decision through the confirmation process fear that a social conservative could lose the votes of moderate figures such as Lisa Murkowski of Alaska or Susan Collins of Maine, who has said she will not vote for a justice who would overturn Roe v Wade. Mr Trump has signalled that is possible.