Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Protesters gather outside Mitch McConnell’s home

Protesters gathered outside a prominent Senator’s home amid threats of riots if Donald Trump forces through a new Supreme Court justice.

Around 100 protesters gathered outside the Kentucky home of Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday as tensions in the US flare over the push to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the election.

The death of the progressive icon on Friday at the age of 87 has poured accelerant onto the already heated election battle, with US President Donald Trump and Republicans vowing to nominate a new conservative justice to decisively tip the balance of the nation’s highest court.

In a year already marred by riots and political violence, prominent left-wing voices have warned of further chaos.

“If they even TRY to replace RBG we burn the entire f***ing thing down,” former CNN anchor Reza Aslan tweeted, later saying a Senate vote would be held “over our dead bodies – literally”.

Freelance political reporter Laura Bassett, formerly of the Huffington Post, said if Mr McConnell “jams someone through, which he will, there will be riots”, adding in a clarifying tweet: “More, bigger riots.”

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate and Mr McConnell, as Senate leader, controls when a vote would be held.

“Hey, hey, ho, ho, Mitch McConnell has got to go,” protesters outside his home chanted on Sunday, according to local media reports.

Some held signs saying “Ruth Sent Us” and “No Ethics No Shame”.

Video: Hundreds gathered at the steps of the Supreme Court throughout Saturday to mourn the passing away of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Candles, flowers, chalk messages and letters were left at the steps of the court as the crowd paid their respects.#RuthBaderGinsburg #RBG pic.twitter.com/7vsI1N3uZm

— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) September 19, 2020

The 78-year-old Senator has vowed to plough ahead, despite accusations of hypocrisy after in 2016 refusing to allow a vote for Merrick Garland, former president Barack Obama’s pick to replace the vacancy left by the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

“I’m disgusted that Senator McConnell would treat this opportunity in a complete(ly) different manner than he treated the opportunity when there was a vacancy when Obama was nine or 10 months away from the election,” protester Laura Johnsrude told the Courier Journal.

“I’m not surprised, but I am disgusted. I think that’s appalling.”

Mr McConnell at the time invoked the unwritten “Biden Rule”, coined by Joe Biden back in 1992, which holds that if there is a Supreme Court vacancy in an election year and the White House and Senate are held by different parties, voters should make the call.

He says this year the rule does not apply, as both the Senate and the White House are held by the same party.

“No one should be surprised that a Republican Senate majority would vote on a Republican President’s Supreme Court nomination, even during a presidential election year,” Senator Lamar Alexander said in a statement on Sunday, the latest Republican to come out in favour of holding a vote.

“The Constitution gives senators the power to do it. The voters who elected them expect it. Senator McConnell is only doing what Democrat leaders have said they would do if the shoe were on the other foot.”

Debates over hypocrisy and Senate norms aside, many Republicans have not forgotten the brutal confirmation process of Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.

“Being lectured by Democrats about how to handle judicial nominations is like an arsonist advising the Fire Department,” Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted on Sunday.

“Democrats chose to set in motion rules changes to stack the court at the Circuit level and they chose to try to destroy Brett Kavanaugh’s life to keep the Supreme Court seat open. You reap what you sow.”

Never forget what they did to that man and his family pic.twitter.com/QO3nMsbmv1

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 19, 2020

‘ABUSE OF POWER’

Meanwhile, Mr Biden has branded Mr Trump’s moves to fill the vacancy an “abuse of power”, as some of the President’s own party also objected.

Two Republican senators have registered their opposition to any rushed vote – Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.

Mr Biden, speaking on Sunday in Philadelphia, accused Mr Trump of exercising “raw political power” by attempting to “ram” through his court choice amid a bitterly fought election campaign.

“I believe voters will make it clear – they will not stand for this abuse of power, this constitutional abuse,” said Mr Biden, who urged the Senate not to act until after the November 3 election.

“If Donald Trump wins the election, then the Senate should move on his selection – and weigh that nominee fairly. But if I win the election, President Trump’s nomination should be withdrawn.”

On Saturday, the President said he will “move quickly” and he expected to announce his nominee in the coming week. He added that it “will be a woman – a very talented, very brilliant woman”.

Mr Biden urged a handful of wavering Republican senators to “follow your conscience”. The timing of a Senate vote – before the election or in the lame-duck session immediately afterwards – remains unclear.

Democrats face an uphill battle in blocking a Trump nominee.

Either way, politicians in both parties are bracing for a seismic battle in a year that has already seen an impeachment vote, the COVID-19 pandemic and a bruising economic collapse.

RELATED: Trump to deny RBG’s dying wish

Republicans have been accused of hypocrisy. Picture: Jon Cherry/Getty Images/AFP

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‘ARROWS IN OUR QUIVER’

Among the few options available to the Democrats are delaying tactics in the Senate and efforts to mobilise public pressure on more moderate Republicans to split with their party.

“We have our options … arrows in our quiver,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a senior Democrat, said on ABC’s This Week on Sunday.

She offered few details but ruled out the possibility of a government shutdown.

The court vacancy has provided a welcome new theme for Trump, who has struggled to play down the toll of the coronavirus pandemic, now fast nearing the grim total of 200,000 deaths.

Ms Pelosi seemed intent on keeping the virus issue front and centre, returning to that theme repeatedly during her ABC interview, just as Mr Biden emphasised it in his speech.

Both parties see the balance of the court – as it rules on vexed issues including abortion, healthcare, gun control and LGBTQ rights – as of utmost importance.

Conservatives currently control five of the nine court seats, but Chief Justice John Roberts sometimes sides with liberals.

“I don’t know … I believe we will,” Sen Ted Cruz tells @gstephanopoulos when asked if Senate GOP have a the votes to confirm a Trump SCOTUS nomination ahead of Nov. 3 election, adding it’s “important” to fill the seat if there’s a contested election. https://t.co/jn2LmoJp7Q pic.twitter.com/oJvETGQRX4

— ABC News (@ABC) September 20, 2020

If confirmed quickly enough, a new conservative justice would be part of a 6-3 majority, and could play a crucial role – in their first months on the court – if the November election faces legal challenges.

“The right thing is for the Senate to confirm before Election Day,” Republican Senator Ted Cruz told ABC.

Mr Cruz, who was on a Trump list of potential court nominees, insisted on Sunday that a full court was needed to avoid a critical deadlock should a battle over the election outcome reach the Supreme Court.

“An equally divided 4-4 court can’t decide anything,” Mr Cruz said. “We need a full court on Election Day.”

Media reports say Mr Trump is focused on two potential justices – Amy Coney Barrett, a 48-year-old federal appeals court judge based in Chicago, and Barbara Lagoa, 52, a federal judge from Miami.

Of the score of names on a tentative list released earlier by Mr Trump, Ms Barrett – a fervently anti-abortion Catholic – is considered among the most conservative.

Meanwhile, analysts said Ms Lagoa, as a Cuban-American, could help Mr Trump win votes in the key state of Florida.

No date has been set for Ms Ginsburg’s funeral or a public memorial service, sure to be a major national event.