WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Saturday said Republicans had an “obligation” to quickly fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court.
Trump, who was informed about Ginsburg’s death Friday night after a political rally in Minnesota, promised the next day to act “without delay” to fill the vacancy.
“We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices,” he tweeted.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Saturday that she didn’t know if Trump had spoken to Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell about the vacancy.
Trump has said in the past he would move to fill a vacancy on the top court no matter how close it was to Election Day.
Republicans refused to do the same in 2016 when then-President Barack Obama sought to fill the spot left open by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
Trump even rolled out a new list of potential candidates for a Supreme Court spot just last week.
Along with conservative jurists, he named conservatives like Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Tom Cotton. R-Ark.
Any Trump pick still has to go through Senate Republicans, who hold a 53-47 edge in the chamber. In the case of a deadlock, Vice President Mike Pence could cast the tie-breaking vote.
Some GOP senators have expressed misgivings about moving to fill the vacancy so close to the election.
