Donald Trump nominates Amy Coney Barrett to fill vacancy at US Supreme Court
Washington : US President Donald Trump on Saturday nominated Amy Coney Barrett to fill the vacancy at the United States Supreme Court after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away.
Trump announced his nomination at a White House event, calling Barrett "one of our nation’s most brilliant and gifted legal minds".
Barrett is 48-year-old and will be the youngest justice on the court if confirmed. She has been a judge on the seventh circuit court of appeals since 2017, also as a Trump nominee.
Barrett's confirmation to the post is likely to get through as Democrats do not have enough number to stop the confirmation. Democrats are likely to put up a fight that will play out in the final weeks leading up to the presidential election.
Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president, called for the US senate to not act on Trump’s nomination until “after the American people select their next president and the next Congress”.
Biden also pointed to Barrett’s opposition to the Affordable Care Act, the Obama-era health insurance plan that Trump and Republicans have been trying to overturn.
Republicans control the senate with a 53-47 majority are expected to fast-track the confirmation. Democrats cannot stop it unless they can peel away four Republican senators, and that appears unlikely. But they can use the confirmation hearing to score points, making it a bruising affair.
