Plenty of time to confirm Ginsburg replacement, Donald Trump insists
Donald Trump will nominate Ruth Bader Ginsburg's replacement at the weekend, saying it ‘would be good to get it over with’.
Donald Trump says he will nominate a new Supreme Court justice at the weekend, declaring there is ‘plenty of time’ for the Senate to confirm her before the US presidential election.
His comments came as Republican leaders counted their Senate numbers, hoping for a majority to enable them to quickly confirm the new justice and tilt the court’s balance to a decisive 6-3 conservative majority after the death of liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The president dismissed the political controversy over whether a new justice should be confirmed so close to the November 3 poll, saying: “We won the election and elections have consequences.’
“I think that would be good for the Republican Party, and I think it would be good for everybody to get it over with, … we have plenty of time,’ he said as he called for a swift confirmation process.
Mr Trump said he had narrowed his choice down to four or five women and said he wanted his nominee to be young.
“You like to go young because they’re there for a long time,” he said.
Republicans are anxiously awaiting news about the voting intentions of several key Republican Senators after two Senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski said they would not vote for a new justice before the election.
Republicans, with a 53-47 majority, can only afford three defectors. There is speculation that Senator Mitt Romney, a Trump critic, may oppose the vote, but it is unclear if any other Republican would oppose it.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said there was enough time to process the nomination this year and said that the Senate had confirmed other justices in shorter amounts of time.
Senator McConnell said there was “overwhelming precedent” for the Senate to act quickly on the nomination.
“The Senate has more than sufficient time to process a nomination,” Senator McConnell told the Senate. ‘History and precedent make that perfectly clear. This Senate will vote on this nomination this year.’
Democrat Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged the Republicans not to confirm a justice until after the election, pointing out that they refused to consider Barack Obama’s nominee in 2016 because of the looming election.
“If a Senate majority over the course of six years steals two Supreme Court seats using completely contradictory rationales, how could we expect to trust the other side again?” Senator Schumer asked.
Justice Ginsburg, an icon of American liberals, died of cancer last week at the age of 87. Her casket will lie in repose for two days at the Supreme Court and then in the rotunda of the Capitol building this week until she is buried at Arlington National Cemetery next week.
One of the two front-runners for her seat is said to be Judge Amy Barrett, a pro-life mother of seven who has a large following among American conservatives.
The other is Judge Barbara Lagoa, a Florida-based daughter of anti-Castro Cuban immigrants.
Mr Trump’s Democrat opponent Joe Biden has called on Republicans not to replace Ms Ginsburg before the election. But on Tuesday (AEST), during a visit to the swing state of Wisconsin, the former Vice President tried to keep the focus on the coronavirus as the US death toll passed 200,000.
In a speech at a Wisconsin Aluminium foundry Mr Biden attacked the president’s handling of the pandemic and said he had abandoned ordinary Americans.
“The simple truth is that Trump ran for office saying he would represent the forgotten men and women in this country. And then once he got in office, he forgot us,” Mr Biden said.
Mr Trump conducted two campaign rallies in Ohio, a state he won easily in 2016 but where Mr Biden is currently leading in the polls by 2.4 points.
Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia
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