The Democratic presidential candidate on Sunday (September 20) asked senators not to vote on the vacant US Supreme Court post “Before the Americans chose their president”, on November 3.
President Donald Trump’s willingness to replace Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday, ahead of the November 3 poll is “Just a brutal exercise of political power”, added Joe Biden, during an intervention from Philadelphia. “The president has already been very clear, it’s a matter of power. Purely and simply. To be able to “, he said again.
Joe Biden had already warned the US president in the hours following the announcement of the death of the one who was one of the nine judges of the Supreme Court. “The voters must choose the president, and the president must propose a judge to the Senate”, he had said then.
In March 2016, eight months before the presidential election, the leader of Republican senators, Mitch McConnell had refused to grant a hearing to Merrick Garland, chosen by Barack Obama to replace Antonin Scalia on the bench of the Supreme Court. At the time, he said that the presidential election was too close and that it was the future president, elected by the American people, who should have the possibility of making this choice.
“They can’t change their minds four years later, just because it serves their interests”, Joe Biden said. “I am not naive, I am not addressing President Trump” nor to Mitch McConnell but “To the handful of Republican senators”, who “Know deep down inside themselves what is good for their country”, he said again. “Respect your constitutional obligations, follow your conscience”, launched them the Democratic candidate.
Short Republican majority in the Senate
Donald Trump seems determined to appoint a judge to replace “RBG”. Saturday, on Twitter, he wrote to be in “Obligation” to appoint a new judge to the Supreme Court ” without delay “. “I think it will go very quickly”, he then said from the gardens of the White House, referring to an announcement ” next week “. In the evening, during a meeting in North Carolina, he said: “It will be a woman. A very talented, very bright woman, whom I have not yet chosen. But we have a lot of women on our list. “
Donald trump “Narrowed the list” of the candidates and will ” very quickly “ make his choice known, Marc Short, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, said on CNN on Sunday. He also indicated that Republican senator leader Mitch McConnell would decide the timing. The latter warned on Friday evening that he was prepared to move forward in the appointment process.
The Republicans have a slight majority in the Senate (53-47), where the choice of president for the Supreme Court must be confirmed by a majority of votes. But two Republican senators, Susan collins and Lisa Murkowski, have already announced that they will not vote for a judge’s confirmation before the presidential election. In the event of a tie, Vice President Mike Pence has the deciding vote. The Democrats therefore still need two defections from the Republican camp.
“The stakes are huge”, summarizes Nancy Pelosi, leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, stressing that the Supreme Court is notably supposed to rule in the coming months on the future of the reform of health insurance known as Obamacare, which has extended the coverage diseases of millions of Americans but which Republicans want to dismantle. The institution also decides on major societal issues, such as abortion or the right to bear arms, 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.
