At a rally in North Carolina on Saturday night, President Donald Trump sent thoughts and prayers to the family of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and laid out his plan to replace the late Supreme Court Justice as soon as possible.
“Article two of our constitution says the president shall nominate justices of the Supreme Court. I don’t think it can be anymore clear, can it? Don’t think so. I don’t think so. What do you think? I don’t think it can be anymore clear,” Trump said before his supporters chimed in.
“Fill that seat,” the crowd began to chant, to the delight of Trump.
“This can only happen in North Carolina,” the president replied and assured the crowd that he would not only fill the vacant seat, but suggested making a shirt with the words, “Fill that seat,” inscribed across the front.
Although Senate Democrats lack the votes to stop Trump from filling Ginsburg’s seat, on Saturday they began discussing their options on how to fight to keep the seat vacant until next year when Joe Biden might occupy the White House.
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“Mitch McConnell believes that this fight is over. What Mitch McConnell does not understand is this fight has just begun,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), speaking at a vigil for Ginsburg on Saturday.
House Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky} vowed that whomever Trump nominated to replace Ginsburg would get a vote on the Senate floor.
He argued that despite it being an election year, Republican control of both the Senate and the White House made the situation different than it was in 2016 when he and other Republicans opposed President Barack Obama‘s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said at the 2018 Atlantic Festival: “If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump’s term, and the primary process has started, we’ll wait until the next election.”
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Aligned with McConnell, Graham now says he also plans to support President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, citing the Democrats treatment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh as justification for his change of heart.
Graham tweeted, “In light of these two events, I will support President @realDonaldTrump in any effort to move forward regarding the recent vacancy created by the passing of Justice Ginsburg.”
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