FIGHT OVER HER SEAT
Trump wants it done before elex, but Democrats vow
President Trump was itching Saturday to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. But Democrats are determined to make things way more difficult as a battle for the ages looms.
Trump tweeted that he feels an “obligation” to act quickly on a replacement for the iconic liberal justice. He plans to unveil a nominee next week or before the first presidential debate on Sept. 29 at the latest.
“I think it’s going to go very quickly,” Trump said before leaving the White House for a campaign rally in North Carolina.
The president said he will “most likely” pick a woman.
He is reportedly weighing conservative appeals court justices Amy Coney Barrett, Barbara Lagoa and Allison Jones Rushing, any of whom would effectively shift the balance of the top court to the right for a generation.
Furious Democrats pushed back hard, with presidential standard-bearer Joe Biden insisting that a replacement for Ginsburg should be chosen by whoever wins on Nov. 3.
“The voters should pick a president, and that president should select a successor to Justice Ginsburg,” Biden said.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed to push a Trump nomination to a vote in 2020, even as the nation is already casting ballots in the presidential election.
The GOP controls the Senate by a 53-to-47 margin so it theoretically has the power to fill the seat, especially since Vice President Mike Pence holds the tie-breaking vote.
But Democrats promised they will fight tooth and nail to block any Supreme Court nomination, hoping they can oust Trump in November.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) started a meeting with Democratic senators with a moment of silence for Ginsburg. He told the lawmakers “everything is on the table” in the fight to block confirmation of a new justice.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and will likely play a key role in grilling any potential Trump nominee.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has no direct role in the fight. But she could refuse to go along with a stopgap funding measure and threaten a government shutdown in the days before Election Day if Democrats want to go nuclear.
Adding to the political drama is the fact that without Ginsburg, the top court has just eight justices.
The even number of justices ushers in the possibility that key cases, including possible challenges to election results and the fate of Obamacare, which affects health coverage for tens of millions, could end in a deadlock. If the Supreme Court vote is tied, a lower court’s ruling stands.
Some Senate headcounters give the Democrats decent odds of success of blocking Trump.
It usually takes at least two months to confirm a new Supreme, a timetable that would make it very difficult to force a vote before Election Day.
Republicans could try to confirm a nominee in the socalled lame duck session after the election, but that could be politically fraught if Trump loses and they lose control of the Senate, as many polls are predicting for now.
Sen. Susan Collins (RMaine), a moderate who is locked in a difficult reelection fight, tweeted Saturday that the next president should choose Ginsburg’s replacement.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (RAlaska) made a similar statement recently. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is a fierce enemy of Trump, although he has supported his other judicial
nominations.
Several other Republicans, including Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), said in the past that they would abide by the precedent they themselves set in 2016 when they refused to give a vote to Merrick Garland after Obama picked him several months before the presidential election.
But Graham quickly changed his tune Saturday and backed Trump’s fast-track plan.
Numbers and precedent aside, Republicans believe it’s good politics for Trump to focus his conservative base on his installing right-wing judges, which has been one of his unquestioned achievements in his tumultuous tenure.
Democrats counter that their own base is revved up by the threat of moving the court to the right on issues like abortion, Obamacare, voting rights, gay rights and more.
In a powerful sign of liberal anger, Democratic candidates raked in an eye-popping $42 million within hours of Ginsburg’s death.
Challengers to Republicans who could vote on a Ginsburg replacement were major recipients of the influx of cash.
A group of Democratic strategists raising money through an effort called “Get Mitch or Die Trying,” which shares donations among Democratic Senate contenders, e reported that within hours of Ginsburg’s death, they nearly doubled what they had h previously raised.
“In tribute to the extraordinary life of Justice Ginsberg, I’m matching donations to this fund fu up to $10,000 tonight,” tweeted t “Grey’s Anatomy” showrunner s Krista Vernoff.
A separate Senate-focused Democratic fund-raising push specifically mentions Ginsburg’s b legacy.
“In this moment it is vital to give to Senate candidates,” reads a fund-raising page called “Protect RBG’s Legacy” on ActBlue, the party’s online fund-raising platform.
“Time to apply maximum pressure so that they do the right thing & refuse to vote to confirm before the 2020 election.”