TRUMP MEETS BARRETT
President says ‘it would be good for everybody to get it over with’; Ginsburg to lie in state at Capitol
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump met Monday with Judge Amy Coney Barrett at the White House as the conservative jurist emerged as a favorite to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, the start of a monumental Senate confirmation fight over objections from Democrats it’s too close to the November election.
Trump said he expects to announce his pick by week’s end, before the burial of Ginsburg, the court’s liberal icon, at Arlington National Cemetery.
The president, who has said he would choose a woman, told reporters he was still going to be interviewing other candidates and might meet with Judge Barbara Lagoa when he travels to Florida later this week. But Barrett has long been favored by conservatives, and those familiar with the process said interest inside the White House seemed to be waning for Lagoa amid concerns by some that she did not have a proven record as a conservative jurist.
Democrats, led by presidential nominee Joe Biden, are protesting the Republicans’ rush to replace Ginsburg, saying voters should speak first, on Election Day, Nov. 3, and the winner of the White House should fill the vacancy.
Trump dismissed those arguments, telling “Fox & Friends,” “I think that would be good for the Republican Party, and I think it would be good for everybody to get it over with.”
Ginsburg, 87, died Friday of metastatic pancreatic cancer. She will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol this week, the first woman ever accorded that honor. First, her casket is to be on view mid-week on the steps of the high court. She is to be buried next week in a private service at Arlington National Cemetery.
Conversations in the White House and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office have been increasingly focused on Barrett and Lagoa, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss the private deliberations.
An appellate court judge, Barrett was a strong contender for the seat that eventually went to Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. At the time, Trump told confidants he was “saving” Barrett for Ginsburg’s seat.
Lagoa has been pushed by some aides who tout her political advantages of being Hispanic and hailing from the key political battleground state of Florida.
Trump said he is planning to name his pick by Friday or Saturday, ahead of the first presidential election debate. With just over a month before the election, McConnell said the Senate has “more than sufficient time” and will vote “this year” on a nominee.
No nominee has won confirmation so quickly since Sandra Day O’Connor — with no opposition from either party — became the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court in 1981.
Some protesters showed up early Monday morning outside the homes of key GOP senators. As the Senate returned to Washington on Monday, several key GOP senators, including Mitt Romney of Utah, declined to say whether they would agree to a swift vote.
Four Republicans could halt a quick confirmation, and Trump criticized Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska for opposing a vote before elections. The president warned they would be “very badly hurt” by voters.
Others, including GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Cory Gardner of Colorado, declined to join in opposing the president’s plan.
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, the only Democrat who voted to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh, said he’s siding with lawmakers in his own party who say the Senate shouldn’t vote on a nominee before the Nov. 3 election.
Trump went so far as to disparage reports that Ginsburg had told her granddaughter it was her wish that a replacement justice not be confirmed until the inauguration of a new president. With no evidence — just “it sounds to me like” — he suggested the wish came from his foes including Rep. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman.
Schiff said Trump sank to a new “low” with that comment. He said he had nothing to do with Ginsburg’s dying wish but would “fight like hell to make it come true.”
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer objected to what he called McConnell’s “utterly craven” pursuit of Supreme Court confirmation under current circumstances, warning it would shatter Senate norms. “It’s enough to make your head explode,” he said.
Republicans hold a 53-47 edge in the Senate. If there were a 50-50 tie, it could be broken by Vice President Mike Pence.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has said he would nominate a woman to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday. A look at the top contenders:
Amy Coney Barrett, 48
Barrett is widely considered to be the front-runner. She was previously considered as a finalist for Trump’s second nomination, which went to Justice Brett Kavanaugh. A devout Catholic mother of seven, she is a favorite of religious conservatives and considered a strong opponent of abortion.
Barrett, who had served as a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, was nominated by Trump to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit and confirmed by the Senate in October 2017 by a 55-43 vote. The 7th Circuit, based in Chicago, covers the states of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
She is married to Jesse Barrett, a former federal prosecutor who is a partner at a law firm in South
Bend, Indiana. The couple have seven children, included two adopted from Haiti and one child with special needs.
Barbara Lagoa, 52
Lagoa is a Cuban American judge from Florida who was nominated by Trump to serve on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2019. Her name was first added to the White House’s list of contenders last month.
Raised in the heavily Latino Miami suburb of Hialeah, Lagoa is the daughter of Cuban exiles who fled the Castro regime. She speaks fluent Spanish and has a solidly conservative judicial record.
Lagoa also has the benefit of having been vetted by the Senate just 10 months ago, sailing to confirmation by a wide margin of 80-15 in November. The 11th Circuit covers Georgia, Florida and Alabama.
Lagoa is a graduate of Florida International University and went on the earn her law degree from Columbia University in New York in 1992. She is married to Paul Huck Jr., a Miami attorney. The couple have three children.
Joan Larsen, 51
Larsen was a little-known University of Michigan legal scholar until 2015, when thenGov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, tapped her to fill a vacant seat on the Michigan Supreme Court.
Trump quickly sought to elevate Larsen to the federal bench, tapping her in May 2017 to fill a seat on the Cincinnatibased 6th Circuit Court of
Appeals. Michigan’s two Democratic U.S. senators initially held up her appointment since the White House hadn’t consulted them, as is customary. But after meeting with the senators, Larsen was confirmed by a 60-38 vote.
Larsen grew up in Waterloo, Iowa, and graduated from the University of Northern Iowa before attending the Northwestern University School of Law.
Larsen is married to Michigan law professor Adam Pritchard, an expert on corporate and securities law. They live in Scio Township near Ann Arbor and have two children.
Allison Jones Rushing, 38
Rushing was confirmed 18 months ago to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond. She would be the youngest Supreme Court justice confirmed since the early 1800s.
She is a native of Hendersonville, North Carolina. Larsen graduated from Wake Forest University before attending Duke University, where she earned her law degree in 2007. As an appellate specialist while in private practice at the Williams & Connolly law firm in Washington, Rushing filed scores of briefs with the Supreme Court. But her comparatively short legal career included prior work with a conservative Christian legal group that is sure to stoke Democrats and their allies to fight her nomination.
Rushing is married to Blake Rushing. The couple have a young son.
Kate Comerford Todd, 45
Todd is the only lawyer on Trump’s potential short list for the Supreme Court who has never served as a judge.
A deputy White House counsel, her close connection to the Trump administration could give an opening to Democrats to attack her independence. However, her lack of a judicial record also leaves little paper trail for opponents to sort for material to attack.
Todd graduated from Cornell University before attending Harvard Law School. Todd is married to Gordon Dwyer Todd, a partner at Sidley law firm in Washington. The couple live in Northern Virginia with their four children.