President Trump said he would nominate a Supreme Court pick on Friday or Saturday and has five women under consideration to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as Senate Republicans lined up behind him and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), rejecting Democrats’ calls to let the winner of the presidential election make the pick.
Mr. Trump maintained that the replacement of Justice Ginsburg, who died Friday of metastatic pancreatic cancer at the age of 87, should happen swiftly. “We won the election and elections have consequences,” he said Monday morning on Fox News. “We have plenty of time.”
The president’s list has been narrowed to two leading candidates, according to people familiar with the matter: federal appellate judges Amy Coney Barrett of the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago, and Barbara Lagoa of the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta.
The president said he has three other people to choose from, though declined to name them. He said he was looking for someone who is young and could serve on the court for a long time. “We’re looking for a good person.”
Judge Barrett, 48 years old, was confirmed to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in October 2017 in a 55-43 vote. She is popular among social conservatives and was a finalist for the post in 2018 when Mr. Trump chose Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Judge Lagoa, 52, previously served as the first Hispanic woman on Florida’s high court.
More than 20 Senate Republicans said over the weekend that they back moving immediately to fill the vacancy, and many are expected to follow suit as the week gets under way. Two Republican senators—Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska—broke ranks this weekend, saying they oppose action on a nomination before the presidential election.
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