As political contestation mounts over the replacement of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last week, Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden has said his first choice ‘will make history as the first African American woman on the court’.
President Donald Trump, who remains determined to make an appointment in the face of opponents’ calls that he not do so before the November poll, his indicated that his choice will be a woman.
He said at a campaign rally in North Carolina at the weekend: ‘I think it should be a woman because I actually like women much more than men.’
Biden charged that replacing Ginsburg before the election would amount to ‘abuse of power’.
The BBC reported that Democrats fear Republicans will vote to lock in a decades-long conservative majority on the country’s highest court, pointing out that the ideological balance of the nine-member court is crucial to its rulings on the most important issues in US law.
In a speech at the Constitutional Center in Philadelphia on Sunday, Biden said Trump had ‘made clear this is about power, pure and simple’.
He added: ‘The United States constitution allows Americans the chance to be heard – and their voice should be heard… they should make it clear, they will not stand for this abuse of power.’
He appealed to Republicans in the Senate – which must vote on any nomination by the president – to ‘please follow your conscience, let the people speak, cool the flames that have been engulfing our country’.
Democrats have vigorously opposed any nomination before November’s election, arguing that Senate Republicans blocked Democratic President Barack Obama’s choice for the US top court in 2016.
At the time, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell justified the move on the grounds that it was an election year. On Friday, however, Senator McConnell said he intended to act on any nomination Trump made and bring it to a vote in the Senate before election day.
[Picture: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86059694]