Trump Sets Date To Announce Supreme Court Nominee
President Donald Trump said Monday he expects to announce a nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court by the end of the week.
During an interview with “Fox & Friends,” the president said he will make the announcement following memorial services for Ginsburg.
“The bottom line is we won the election, we have an obligation to do what’s right and act as quickly as possible,” he said.
“I think it will be on Friday or Saturday and we want to pay respect, it looks like we will have services on Thursday or Friday, as I understand it, and I think we should, with all due respect for Justice Ginsburg, wait for services to be over,” Trump added.
Ginsburg, 87, died Friday after losing a battle with cancer.
She sat on the court since being appointed by former President Bill Clinton in 1993.
Immediately following news of her passing on Friday, both Republicans and Democrats began digging in for a political fight over whether to fill Ginsburg’s vacated seat before the election.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated Friday that if Trump were to nominate a justice, that person would receive a vote on in the Senate.
Trump said he expects to give McConnell and Senate Republicans a name by Saturday and had already narrowed down his list of nominees to a handful of people.
“I’m looking at five very seriously,” he said.
Trump committed over the weekend to filling Ginsburg’s vacant seat on the court with a woman, CNN reported.
Fox News reported those nominees are said to include appeals courts judges Amy Coney Barrett, Barbara Logoa and Allison Jones Rushing.
On the shortlist, Trump said, “No matter how you would look at it, these are the finest people in the nation.”
Ginsburg’s dying wish, per a statement she reportedly dictated to her granddaughter Clara Spera, was that when she died, her seat would remain vacant until a new president takes office.
“My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” she reportedly told Spera, according to NPR.
Trump was skeptical of the statement attributed to Ginsburg while speaking with “Fox & Friends” on Monday.
“I don’t know that she said that, or was that written out by Adam Schiff and Schumer and Pelosi,” Trump said.
“I would be more inclined to the second … But that sounds like a Schumer deal or maybe a Pelosi or Shifty Schiff.”
“I don’t know that she said that, or was that written out by Adam Schiff, Schumer and Pelosi,” @realDonaldTrump said of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s “fervent” last wish. pic.twitter.com/LBsSGEpnqX
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) September 21, 2020
Trump told Fox News Monday he feels his nominee should be voted on before the Nov. 3 election.
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