Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised Friday to hold a vote on President Donald Trump’s nominee to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday at 87.
“President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate,” McConnell said in a statement hours after the court announced Ginsburg’s death.
The Senate and the nation mourn the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the conclusion of her extraordinary American life.
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) September 19, 2020
My full statement: pic.twitter.com/NOwYLhDxIk
Replacing the liberal Ginsburg with a conservative justice would give the court a firm 6-3 majority to the right, The Washington Post reported. Democrats want the Senate to wait until after the presidential election.
Ginsburg, also said she did not want her seat to be filled until after the election, according to NPR. Days before she died in her Washington home of complications from metastatic pancreas cancer, she told her granddaughter: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
Trump already released a list of possible Supreme Court nominees earlier this month.
Leaving a campaign stop in Bemidji, Minnesota, Trump was surprised to hear about Ginsburg’s death
“She just died? Wow. I didn’t know that, you’re telling me now for the first time,” Trump told reporters. “She led an amazing life. What else can you say? She was an amazing woman. Whether you agreed or not she was an amazing woman. ... I’m sad to hear that.”
WATCH: Trump hears from a reporter that Justice Ginsburg has died.
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) September 19, 2020
"She just died? Wow. I didn't know that, you're telling me now for the first time."
"She led an amazing life. What else can you say? She was an amazing woman...I'm sad to hear that." pic.twitter.com/5Na3vHzP7f
Cox Media Group