U.S. News

Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Sets Up Supreme Court Nomination Fight

President Trump and Mitch McConnell Look To Fill Seat Before Election

Editor Tyler Bagent

9/30/2020

On September 18th, 2020, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died as a result of a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Immediately after her death was announced, debate began on the appointment and confirmation of her successor.

Her death came just a week and a half before the first Presidential Debate, assuring politics would dominate the discussion following her passing. Around an hour after the announcement of her death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) released a statement confirming that “President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.” On Twitter, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) shot back with “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”

These opinions by each party are a reversal of a similar crisis we faced before the 2016 Presidential Election. In February of 2016, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died just before the 2016 South Carolina Presidential Primary. Mitch McConnell and the Republican Party refused to consider the nomination of Merrick Garland to fill the seat, which the Democrats slammed as an attempt to steal the seat. The Republicans prevailed, allowing new President Trump to nominate and confirm Neil Gorsuch. Now, the Republicans are claiming that the Republicans’ gaining of seats in the 2018 Midterm Elections give them the mandate to confirm a conservative justice. The Democrats object, stating that the Republicans set the precedent to wait until the next president is inaugurated to fill the seat.

The confirmation of President Trump’s nominee rests on the votes of a few Republican Senators: Mitt Romney (R-UT), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Susan Collins (R-ME). Romney, Grassley, and Alexander have all stated that they will consider the nomination, regardless of whether the vote reaches the Senate Floor before or after the election. Murkowski and Collins have both stated that they do not support going forward with the nomination before the next inauguration. Another wrench that could be thrown into the system would be the Arizona Senate Special Election, who’s winner will be sworn in on November 30th, and is led by Democrat Mark Kelly. If Kelly wins, and the Democrats are able to punt the nomination vote to December, the Democrats would only require 3 votes to fail the nominee. However, as of right now, the Republicans have confirmed that they have the votes to confirm the nominee.

President Trump is set to announce his pick for the seat Saturday, after Justice Ginsburg is interred at Arlington National Cemetery. Right now, it looks likely that his pick will be Amy Coney Barrett, but that could change before Saturday. Regardless of who he nominates, this nomination fight looks like it will be a battle for the ages.