Ruth Bader Ginsburg
1933-2020
WASHINGTON • The Senate confirmation battle over a Donald Trump nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg is likely to be fierce — at a time of social unrest in the United States during the coronavirus pandemic — though Democrats lack the votes to block him unless some Republican senators join them.
Trump, who as a presidential candidate in 2016 called on Ginsburg to resign after she criticized him in media interviews, will get a chance to reshape the court like no other president since Ronald Reagan, who made three appointments during his eight years in office in the 1980s, moving the court to the right.
Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell have made moving the federal judiciary to the right a top priority. Another Trump appointment would give the Supreme Court a 6-3 conservative majority, meaning that for the liberal justices to prevail in any case they would need to have two of the conservatives join them.
When conservative Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, Mcconnell refused to allow the Senate to consider Democratic President Barack Obama’s nominee to fill the vacancy, Merrick Garland, in an action with little precedent in U.S. history. While Mcconnell in 2016 said a Supreme Court nomination should not be taken up during an election year, in 2019 he made clear that the Senate would allow Trump, a fellow Republican, to fill an election-year vacancy, drawing Democratic accusations of hypocrisy.
Some liberal activists had urged Ginsburg to step down early in Obama’s second term to allow him to appoint a younger liberal to replace her who could serve decades on the court.
U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on Friday the Supreme Court vacancy should not be filled until there is a new president.
“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president,” he said on Twitter.
In choosing his Supreme Court nominees, Trump has selected from a list of candidates prepared by conservative judicial activists. During the 2016 campaign, Trump promised to appoint justices who would overturn the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion.
It would take about a month for Trump and Senate Republicans to pick and confirm a replacement, said Daniel Epps, a law professor and former Supreme Court clerk.
“I would be surprised if the president and Senate Republicans don’t try to fill the seat,” said Epps, of Washington University School of Law. “They probably have the votes.”
A private interment service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery, the court said, but didn’t specify a date.
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