Since the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Trump Administration has made a push to fill the vacant seat before Election Day, despite Ginsburg’s dying wish that her seat not be replaced until a new president is installed. Speculation arose as to who President Donald Trump would nominate, with potential names including Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), but since Trump declared at a campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina last Saturday that he would be nominating a woman, Amy Coney Barrett shot to the top of his list.
On Saturday night, Trump nominated Barrett for the Supreme Court. He made his official announcement at 5 p.m. EST. Barrett, a former clerk to the late Antonin Scalia, was Trump’s pick for a seat on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017 and is also a law professor at Notre Dame. According to a person familiar with the matter, she is the only potential nominee known to have met with the President in person, as he did not interview any other candidates. Supporters on the right strongly support Barrett’s nomination, especially because of her writings on faith and the law.
If Barrett’s Senate confirmation is successful before the November election, she would be president Trump’s third Supreme Court pick, following Neil Gorsuch in 2017, after the death of Antonin Scalia, and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, after Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy retired. Barrett’s approval would give the conservatives a strong 6-3 majority in the Supreme Court.
