WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will announce his nominee for the next justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday.
Earlier Tuesday, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows confirmed Trump’s plan during an appearance Tuesday on Fox Business Network.
The nomination is expected in the wake of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on Friday. The liberal justice died of complications related to metastatic pancreatic cancer, according to Supreme Court officials. She was 87.
Democrats have argued that the Senate should not vote on any Supreme Court pick announced by the president following the precedent set by Republicans in 2016, when they blocked a vote on then-President Barack Obama’s pick for the nation’s highest court. At the time, Republicans argued that in an election year voters should have a say in the matter.
“I think the vast majority of Americans overwhelmingly believe that it’s this president’s pick and the vast majority that I’ve talked to want somebody confirmed before the election,” Meadows said Tuesday on Fox Business Network.
On Friday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed to call a floor vote on Trump’s nominee.
“Americans re-elected our majority in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 because we pledged to work with President Trump and support his agenda, particularly his outstanding appointments to the federal judiciary,” he said, according to The Associated Press. “Once again, we will keep our promise.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham has said Republicans have enough votes to confirm Trump’s pick before the Nov. 3 election, the AP reported.
It remained unclear who Trump would pick to serve on the Supreme Court, although he has said he will choose a woman to replace Ginsburg. Two possible contenders are Judge Amy Coney Barrett, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and Judge Barbara Lagoa, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.