Donald Trump said on Saturday, September 19 that he was in “Obligation” to appoint a new judge to the Supreme Court ” without delay “ the day after the death of its dean Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
To appoint the magistrates of the temple of law is “The most important decision” for which a president is elected, did he justify in a Tweet, while the Democratic opposition asks him not to exercise this power before the presidential election of November 3.
But Donald Trump seems decided to engage in the designation of a new judge, who would tip the Supreme Court into the conservative camp for several decades.
Considerable stake
The stakes are high since the institution settles the main social issues, such as abortion, the right to bear arms or the rights of homosexuals, which are often also the fault lines of an American society more divided than ever. . The High Court also has the final say on electoral disputes, as in the 2000 presidential election finally won by George W. Bush against Al Gore.
According to the Constitution of the United States, the president appoints the nine wise men of the Supreme Court for life, who must still obtain a green light from the Senate. Republicans have a majority of 53 out of 100 seats in the Upper House and their leader, Agenda Master Mitch McConnell, has already made it known that he will hold a vote if Donald Trump announces his choice. He had however refused to audition a candidate nominated by Barack Obama in 2016, on the grounds that such a decision should not be taken in the middle of an election year.
Some moderate Republican elected officials, who face complicated re-election campaigns, could be embarrassed by this change of foot and the fight to convince them should be fierce. The Republican Senator from Alaska Lisa Murkoswki had thus declared, Friday, September 18, before the announcement of the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, that she would not approve the appointment of a new judge in the Supreme Court unless fifty of election days.
Biden and Obama call on Trump for restraint
For their part, the progressives indeed want at all costs to prevent Donald Trump from bringing a third judge to the Supreme Court because this would permanently anchor this key institution in conservatism, the arbiter of the great debates in American society.
Donald Trump has already appointed two judges during his tenure. Neil Gorsuch, invested in April 2017, had replaced Antonin Scalia, who died a year earlier. Another Conservative judge, Brett Kavanaugh, replaced Anthony Kennedy in 2018. The Conservative camp currently has five judges.
45 days before the presidential election, Democratic candidate Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama immediately warned Donald Trump. “The voters must choose the president, and the president must propose a judge to the Senate”, said Joe Biden. Barack Obama called on his Republican successor to abstain as “Ballots have already been cast” for the November 3 ballot, by advance or by correspondence.
