Next SC judge mulled

This vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) —US Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell vowed Friday to hold a vote on a nominee that President Donald Trump names to replace late Supreme Court Justice Ruther Bader Ginsburg, despite the looming November election.

Her death sets up a mammoth battle for the seat she left behind, with Trump potentially moving to nominate a new justice just weeks before the 3 November vote, and challenger Joe Biden demanding the election be held first, and the winner to pick Ginsburg’s successor.

“President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate,” McConnell, a chief ally of the president in Congress, said in a statement shortly after Ginsburg’s death was announced by the court.

The move would be in direct opposition to Ginsburg’s reported dying wish that she not be replaced “until a new president is installed” in January, 2021.

The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice.

Such a step would be unprecedented in modern times — and is certain to infuriate Democrats who have already called for McConnell to wait to bring a nomination to the floor until at least January, when control of the White House and Senate could change.

“The voters should pick the president, and the president should pick the justice for the Senate to consider,” Biden told reporters after learning of Ginsburg’s death.

“This was the position the Republican Senate took in 2016 when there were almost 10 months to go before the election. That’s the position the United States Senate must take today.”

Biden was referring to McConnell’s infamous refusal in February 2016 to bring Barack Obama’s nominee to replace late justice Anthony Scalia to the floor -- fully 250 days before that year’s election — because it was too close to the vote.

“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice,” McConnell said in a statement released after Scalia’s death.

“Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”