President Trump is expected to ignore the dying wish of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and nominate her replacement in the coming days in a rush to hurry through a conservative judge before the election.
Ginsburg had hoped that Trump would not be the president to select the next Justice, stating her ‘most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed’
Trump’s attempts to hurry through his own pick, the third Supreme Court Justice he would have nominated, has already been met with backlash from his rival, Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Biden demanded that Trump waits until after the election so the winner can put forward the nomination.
It comes as insiders suggest that some Republican Senators led by Utah’s Mitt Romney will lead a rebellion to scupper Trump’s chances of a rushed process.
Trump is expected to whittle down his nomination list from the 20 names he announced last week to one nominee that will then go through the Senate vetting process.
The decision on the nomination lies solely with the Senate although the Vice President breaks a tie in the event of a 50/50 split.
Among the current front runners is U.S. Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett, 48, who holds a strong pro-life stance.
She was already a finalist for the nomination in 2018 which eventually went to Brett Kavanaugh.
Among the others on Trump’s list are Senator Ted Cruz, Trump’s closest competition for the Republican nomination in 2016; Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who immediately tweeted he would get rid of Roe v Wade if confirmed; and Department of Justice official Stephen Engel, who drafted memo justifying denying cooperation with House investigations.
And also in the running are Christopher Landau, the current ambassador to Mexico; Republican Senator and Trump loyalist Josh Hawley; and Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, among others.
Generally the process from nomination to appointment takes about 70 days although some, such as Brett Kavanaugh, take longer and Ginsburg’s appointment only took 50 days.
Even this, however, was longer than the 46 days currently remaining before the election meaning the vetting and review for a Trump nominee would have to take place at breakneck speed.
The long-term direction of the nation’s highest court is at stake as the closely divided court had five justices with conservative bents and four liberals, before Ginsburg’s death.
If Trump were to choose a conservative judge to replace the liberal Ginsburg, as expected, the court’s conservatives would have more heft with a 6-3 majority.
The president repeatedly touts his success in already nominating two conservative Supreme Court Justices as one of the biggest achievements of his term but wishes to extend his influence further.
If he loses in November without having secured a third Justice, Biden can appoint a liberal nominee, leaving the conservative-liberal balance at 5-4.
With other current Justices on the court in their 70s and 80s, without the Trump nominee, a Biden presidency could have further vacancies that could swing the balance of the court completely.
The Senate is currently controlled by 53 Republicans, while Democrats hold 45 seats. Two independents align with Democrats on most votes.
Among the 53 Republicans are some moderates, including Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, who may side with Democrats or oppose a vote before the election.
Earlier on Friday shortly before Ginsburg’s death was announced, Senator Murkowski said that if she was presented with a vacancy on the court, she would not vote to confirm a nominee before the election.
‘I would not vote to confirm a Supreme Court nominee. We are 50 some days away from an election,’ she said, according to Alaska Public.
She said she made the decision based on the same reasoning that held up the confirmation of former President Barack Obama’s final nominee to the Supreme Court ahead of the 2016 election.
This comment could place Murkowski among a group of rebel GOP senators, potentially led by Mitt Romney, that will abstain from voting or vote with Democrats if a nominee is presented.
Romney has previously shown his ability to resist Trump and will likely be targeted by Democrats who will remind him of the 18-month delay caused by Republicans in 2016 when they refused to appoint Obama’s nomination ahead of that election.
Maine’s Collins is another GOP senator who may oppose a Trump nominee due to pressure from voters in her own state.
She is in a tough race for re-election this year in her home state, which has been trending Democratic.
Ginsburg’s death could have an impact on Collins’ re-election effort and her posture on whether filling the high-court seat should await the outcome of the 2020 presidential race.
Late on Friday, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell issued a letter to GOP senators asking them not to reveal whether they will choose to vote before the election and on which candidate.
McConnell has said that he still hopes to complete the nomination process before November.
It can take several weeks to months between the president’s nomination of a Supreme Court justice and a Senate confirmation vote as the nominee must go through a thorough vetting by the Senate and often makes visits with individual senators to build support for the nomination.
Yet there are no set rules for how long the process should take once President Donald Trump announces his pick, and some nominations have moved more quickly. It will come down to politics and votes.
The last Supreme Court opening was filled in October 2018 by Justice Kavanaugh.
His confirmation faced strong opposition from Senate Democrats and included bitter hearings amid allegations, which he denied, of sexual misconduct decades earlier.
Having being nominated by Trump on July 6, the Senate voted in favor of Kavanaugh joining the court on October 6.
Trump has already remade the federal bench for a generation and the new vacancy in the highest court gives the president the ability to shape its future for decades to come if he is re-elected in November.
The likely bitter fight ahead was reflected in early statements by Republican and Democratic senators taking partisan sides on whether a Ginsburg replacement should await the election results.
Even though Republicans caused a 14-month Supreme Court vacancy by their refusal to consider an Obama replacement for Scalia in 2016, Republican Senator Rick Scott said on Friday: ‘It would be irresponsible to allow an extended vacancy on the Supreme Court’ this time, as he voiced support of Trump filling Ginsburg’s seat.
Democrats reminded Republicans of that 2016 delay. And Democratic Senator Chris Coons said, ‘Given all the challenges facing our country, this is a moment when we should come together rather than having a rushed confirmation process further divide us.
Since becoming Senate majority leader in 2015, McConnell has focused much of his attention and wielded his power to fill the federal courts with conservative judges nominated by Trump. More than 200 have been installed.
One senior Senate Republican aide said of McConnell, ‘No way he lets a (Supreme Court) seat slip away.’ The aide added that a major question will be whether McConnell, in tandem with Trump, attempts to fill the vacancy before the Nov. 3 election or sometime before Jan. 20, when the next president will be sworn-in.
Trump’s two nominees to the court, Justice Neil Gorsuch, 53, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, 55, are young appointments meaning that their potential tenure could last for decades.