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Donald Trump questions Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dying wish to delay succession

Donald Trump vows to name Supreme Court nominee this week, questioning Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dying wish.

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President Trump on Monday questioned whether Ruth Bader Ginsburg truly did make a dying wish that her replacement should be picked only after the presidential election, and pledged instead to name his Supreme Court nominee on Friday or Saturday.

He said that he would wait at least until the events being held to honour Ms Ginsburg in Washington were completed. He has named a shortlist of five female judges and the issue is dominating campaigning six weeks before the election.

On Friday Ms Ginsburg will become the first woman to lie in state in the rotunda of the US Capitol, after two days lying in repose at the Supreme Court. The public will pay its respects outside, in line with coronavirus restrictions. She will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery next week.

The death of the celebrated liberal judge, which leaves the court with a 5-3 majority of conservatives, has provoked a huge political battle over her successor, a decision that could shape the ideology of the court for many years to come. Senior Democrats have called for activists to “mobilise on an unprecedented scale” to dissuade Republican senators from pushing through Mr Trump’s nominee so close to the election. They argue that this breaks a precedent set by Republican Senate leaders in 2016 when they refused to consider President Obama’s candidate in an election year.

Ms Ginsburg, who died from cancer on Friday, was said by her granddaughter to have declared a short time earlier: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”

Justice Barbara Lagoa is one of the favourites to replace Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Picture: AFP.
Justice Barbara Lagoa is one of the favourites to replace Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Picture: AFP.
Amy Coney Barrett is reportedly also on Donald Trump’s shortlist.
Amy Coney Barrett is reportedly also on Donald Trump’s shortlist.

Mr Trump suggested on television on Monday that the words could have been written by senior Democrats. Speaking to Fox & Friends, he said: “I don’t know that she said that or was that written out by Adam Schiff and Schumer and Pelosi? I would be more inclined to the second, OK? You know that came out of the wind and sounds so beautiful. But that sounds like a Schumer deal or maybe Pelosi or Shifty Schiff. Maybe she did and maybe she didn’t.”

Mr Schiff is the chairman of the House intelligence committee who led the impeachment of Mr Trump. Chuck Schumer is the Senate minority leader and Ms Pelosi is the House Speaker and the most senior Democrat in Congress.

Mr Trump continued: “Look, the bottom line is we won the election, we have an obligation to do what’s right and act as quickly as possible. I think in all due respect we should wait until the services are over for Justice Ginsburg, so we’re looking probably at Friday or maybe Saturday [for the nomination].”

He did not dispute the names of three appeals court judges put to him on Fox & Friends as frontrunners: Barbara Lagoa, 52, from Miami; Amy Coney Barrett, 48, from Indiana; and Allison Jones Rushing, 38, from North Carolina. He referred to two other candidates.

“There are actually five I’m looking at. It could be any one of them. They’ll all be great. These are really top people. I’m looking at five, probably four, but I’m looking at five very seriously.” He was asked in particular about Ms Lagoa, who could motivate Latino voters in the key election battleground state of Florida. He said: “She’s excellent, she’s Hispanic, she’s a terrific woman, from everything I know … We’re looking for someone with very, very high moral values.”

Asked if election politics was playing a part in his choice, for example to court voters in Florida, Mr Trump said: “I try not to say so, I think probably automatically it is, even if you are not wanting to do that.”

US Election is now about ‘guns, God, and abortion rights’

He again challenged Joe Biden, his Democratic rival, to name his own list of potential nominees, saying that the former vice-president “had a problem” because if he chose a centrist then he would alienate the left wing of his party. Mr Biden, 77, has said that he will nominate a black woman but vowed not to publish names yet, saying that they would be subjected to months of attacks without the ability to respond.

Mr Trump reiterated that he wanted the confirmation hearings and vote in the Senate, where the Republicans hold the majority needed to confirm a new member of the court, to go ahead before the election on November 3. In 2016 Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, refused to take forward Merrick Garland, the Obama nominee who was named nine months before the 2016 election, on the grounds that voters had to have their say first.

Mr Schumer, 69, joined Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 30, the young congresswoman seen as a standard-bearer for the activist left wing of the Democratic Party, in calling for a campaign to block the early nomination. “We’re here to protect the rights of women. Their rights to their body, to choose, their rights to healthcare and equality would go down the drain if that wish were not realised. A court with a kind of nominee President Trump will choose will undo all of that and not make global warming less likely but more likely, and it will come quicker.”

Referring to Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the two Republican senators who also oppose a quick selection, he added: “We only need two more senators who will abide by RBG’s wish.”

Ms Ocasio-Cortez said: “With an early appointment all of our rights that so many people died for – voting rights, reproductive rights, healthcare rights – all of those rights are at risk … So we need to make sure that we mobilise on an unprecedented scale to ensure that this vacancy is reserved for the next president. And we must use every tool at our disposal, from everyday people, especially in swing states. We need everyday people to call on senators, to call on folks on the bubble to ensure that we buy ourselves the time necessary.”

The Times

Read related topics:Donald Trump

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/donald-trump-questions-ruth-bader-ginsbergs-dying-wish-to-delay-succession/news-story/02c497c518e894000264029a98fa101c