US President Donald Trump yesterday planned to name conservative appellate judge Amy Coney Barrett as his third US Supreme Court appointment, setting off a scramble in the Republican-led US Senate to confirm her before the US presidential election in five-and-a-half weeks.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made confirming Trump’s judicial nominees a top priority and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, who mounted an angry defense of Trump’s last high court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, in 2018, has signaled that he expects to have Barrett confirmed as a justice by Nov. 3.
Barrett, 48, was appointed by Trump to the Chicago-based 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017 and is a favorite of religious conservatives, a key Trump voter bloc.
Photo: AP
Her confirmation to replace liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died at age 87 on Friday last week, would make Barrett the fifth woman ever to serve on the top US judicial body and push its conservative majority to a commanding 6-3.
Trump planned to formally introduce his nominee at a 5pm White House ceremony.
Conservative advocates hailed Trump’s selection, which surfaced on Friday night, while liberals voiced dismay.
Former US vice president Joe Biden, the Democrat’s presidential candidate, has said that the winner of the election should get to replace Ginsburg.
Trump’s fellow Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority, and only two Republican senators have opposed proceeding with the confirmation process.
However, Democrats are expected to make the process as difficult as possible.
Abortion rights advocates are worried that Barrett could cast a vote for overturning the 1973 landmark ruling legalizing abortion nationwide.
On the 7th Circuit, Barrett has staked out conservative legal positions in three years on the bench, voting in favor of one of Trump’s hardline immigration policies and showing support for expansive gun rights.
She also authored a ruling making it easier for college students accused of campus sexual assaults to sue their institutions.
Like Trump’s two other appointees, Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Kavanaugh in 2018, Barrett is young enough that she could serve for decades, leaving an enduring conservative imprint.
Barrett would be the youngest Supreme Court nominee since conservative Clarence Thomas, who was 43 when nominated in 1991.
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