Don looking to pick Barrett as Supreme, according to reports
President Trump will reportedly nominate a staunchly conservative appeals court judge from Illinois as his pick to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paving the way for what promises to be one of the most contentious Supreme Court confirmation battles in modern memory.
Trump, who’s expected to unveil his pick at the White House on Saturday, set his mind on U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett late Friday, according to reports from The New York Times and several other outlets.
The White House declined to comment, and Trump is known to be mercurial, but sources said he made up his mind after meeting with Barrett in the Oval Office earlier this week.
Barrett, 48, was on the short-list of finalists for Trump’s second Supreme Court pick, which Justice Brett Kavanaugh ended up clinching after a grueling confirmation process hampered by the nominee’s alleged history of sexual assault.
She’s a devout Catholic, mother of seven and a strong opponent of abortion, prompting liberals to fear that she could help overturn Roe v. Wade if she makes it onto the Supreme Court bench.
Trump picked Barrett to her current job on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago.
During her Senate confirmation hearing to that judgeship, Democrats pressed Barrett (photo) on the hot-button issue.
She explained that she takes her Catholic faith seriously, but that her “personal church affiliation” would “not bear in the discharge of my duties as a judge.” Despite many Democrats voicing reservations about the veracity of that answer, Barrett was confirmed by a 55-43 margin.
One of the other picks under consideration by
Trump is Barbara Lagao, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Florida.
Lagao, 52, is Cuban-American and portrayed by Trump’s supporters as a pick that could help him win Florida in the Nov. 3 election.
Trump has been falling behind Biden in Florida, and allies of the president say nominating Lagao could curry favor with the critical battleground state’s sizable Hispanic population.
Lagao, who has a solidly conservative voting record, recently landed in the headlines for a controversial ruling that makes the right to vote for ex-felons in Florida contingent on them paying off all their court fees and fines. In light of that ruling, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged $16 million to help ex-felons in Florida pay off their dues.
No matter who Trump picks, Senate Democrats have vowed to fight tooth and nail to block the nominee.
They’re outraged by what they view as hypocrisy from their Republican colleagues, who are vowing to rush Trump’s pick through the confirmation process even though they refused to even consider President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland in 2016 because they claimed it was too close to that year’s election.
Obama nominated Garland 237 days before the 2016 election; Trump’s nominee will be announced just 38 days before this year’s election.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who will lead the Democratic charge against Trump’s nominee, attended a ceremony for Ginsburg at the U.S. Capitol on Friday as she became the first Jewish woman in American history to lie in state there.
Along with a photo of himself standing before Ginsburg’s flag-draped casket, Schumer tweeted: “We are fighting for her legacy.”