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Trump Calls on Senate to Vote 'Without Delay' on His Supreme Court Pick

Associated Press

   WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Saturday urged the
   Republican-run Senate to consider "without delay" his upcoming
   nomination to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the death of
   Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just six weeks before the election.

   The White House was making preparations to select a nominee for the
   seat held by Ginsburg, who spent her final years on the bench as the
   unquestioned leader of the court's liberal wing.

   Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, vowed on Friday
   night, hours after Ginsburg's death, to call a vote for whomever Trump
   nominated. Democrats said Republicans should follow the precedent they
   set in 2016 by not considering a Supreme Court choice in the run-up to
   an election.

   Trump made his view clear in a tweet Saturday: "We were put in this
   position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who
   so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been
   considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices.
   We have this obligation, without delay!"

     .[1]@GOP We were put in this position of power and importance to
     make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most
     important of which has long been considered to be the selection of
     United States Supreme Court Justices. We have this obligation,
     without delay!
     -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) [2]September 19, 2020

   Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said any vote should come
   after the Nov. 3 election. "Voters should pick the president and the
   president should pick the justice to consider," Biden said.

   The impending clash over the vacant seat -- when to fill it and with
   whom -- is sure to significantly affect the stretch run of the
   presidential race, further stirring passions in a nation already
   reeling from the pandemic that has killed nearly 200,000 people, left
   millions unemployed and heightened partisan tensions and anger.

   McConnell, who sets the calendar in the Senate and has made judicial
   appointments his priority, declared unequivocally in a statement that
   Trump's nominee would receive a confirmation vote in the chamber. In
   2016, McConnell refused to consider President Barack Obama's choice for
   the high court months ahead of the election, eventually preventing a
   vote.

   As the nation learned of Ginsburg's death, Trump was unaware, speaking
   for more than an hour and a half at a Minnesota rally without
   mentioning it. He huddled with aides after stepping off stage but acted
   surprised when he spoke with reporters moments later, saying he did not
   know she had died.

References

   1. https://twitter.com/GOP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   2. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1307321159113936896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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