United States President Donald Trump’s nomination of conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died earlier this month, is expected to trigger a bitter confirmation fight in the Senate.
Trump’s opponents had fiercely argued against an appointment before the November presidential election.
The president, however, indicated his determination to fill the vacancy left by Bader’s death.
He described Barrett as a ‘woman of unparalleled achievement’ and a ‘stellar scholar and judge’ with ‘unyielding loyalty to the constitution’.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden urged the Senate not to ‘act on this vacancy until after the American people select their next president and the next Congress’.
‘The United States Constitution was designed to give the voters one chance to have their voice heard on who serves on the Court. That moment is now and their voice should be heard,’ he said.
The BBC reported that, if Judge Barrett is confirmed, conservative-leaning justices will hold a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court for the foreseeable future.
The 48-year-old would be the third justice appointed by the current Republican president, after Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.
Barrett is described as a devout Catholic who, according to a 2013 magazine article, said that ‘life begins at conception’. This makes her a favourite among religious conservatives keen to overturn the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalised abortion nationwide.
According to the BBC, LGBT groups have criticised Barrett’s membership of a conservative Catholic group, People of Praise, whose network of schools have guidelines stating a belief that sexual relations should only happen between heterosexual married couples.
Judge Barrett has ruled in favour of President Trump’s hardline immigration policies and expressed views in favour of expansive gun rights.
[Picture: Rachel Malehorn, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93339375]