Trump news: Obama warns democracy at risk as president pushes to nominate right-wing justice before election

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Supreme Court judge dies aged 87

Barack Obama has warned US democracy is at risk if Republicans press ahead with plans to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Her death just over six weeks before US election day is likely to trigger a fierce battle over whether President Donald Trump should nominate her replacement at the highest court in America, or if the seat should remain vacant until the result of the race in November against Democratic challenger Joe Biden is known.

In a statement, Mr Obama said: “A basic principle of the law — and of everyday fairness — is that we apply rules with consistency, and not based on what’s convenient or advantageous in the moment. The rule of law, the legitimacy of our courts, the fundamental workings of our democracy all depend on that basic principle.” 

Democrats are still seething over the Republican Senate's refusal to act on Mr Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, in 2016 after conservative Justice Antonin Scalia died 10 months before that election. 

Mr McConnell in 2016 said the Senate should not act on a court nominee during an election year, a stance he has since reversed.

Despite that anger, Democrats have little chance of blocking Mr Trump's pick. His fellow Republicans control 53 of the Senate's 100 seats and Mr McConnell, who has made confirmation of Mr Trump's federal judicial nominees a top priority, said the chamber would vote on any Trump nominee.

Even before justice Ginsburg's death, Mr Trump had made public a list of potential nominees.

Conservative activists for years have sought to get enough votes on the Supreme Court to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. During the 2016 campaign, Mr Trump promised to appoint justices who would overturn that decision. But the court in July, even with its conservative majority, struck down a restrictive Louisiana abortion law on a 5-4 vote.

The two justices already appointed by Mr Trump were Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. Kavanaugh's confirmation process was particularly heated, as he faced accusations by a California university professor, Christine Blasey Ford, that he had sexually assaulted her in 1982 when the two were high school students in Maryland. Justice Kavanaugh angrily denied those accusations and was narrowly confirmed.

Republicans risk the possibility of liberals embracing more radical proposals should Mr Trump replace justice Ginsburg but Democrats win November's election, with some activists on the left suggesting even before her death that the number of justices on the court should be expanded to counter Trump's appointees.

Confirmation votes could also put more pressure on incumbent Republican senators in highly competitive election races, including Maine's Susan Collins and Arizona's Martha McSally, at a time when Democrats are eying a chance to win control of that chamber. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also could play a pivotal role.

Many court-watchers expect Mr Trump to attempt to replace Ms Ginsburg with a woman. One possible contender on Trump's list is Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative judge on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who was under consideration in 2018 before Mr Trump picked justice Kavanaugh.

Additional reporting by Reuters. Check out The Independent’s live updates and coverage below:

Key Points

• Obama cautions ‘fundamental workings’ of democracy at risk in Supreme Court row
• Trump says he will move forward with Supreme Court nominee ‘without delay’
• Ginsberg’s final ‘fervent wish’ before dying made public
• US president pays tribute to Ginsberg

[19 September 2020 13:42 · Tom Embury-Dennis]

Democratic senator Chris Murphy has warned Republicans they Senate will “never, ever be the same” if they push forward with plans to replace Ginsburg before the election.

He is not explicit about what will change, but many Democrats are calling for an end to the Senate filibuster and to pack the Supreme Court with a slew of liberal judges.

[19 September 2020 13:21 · Tom Embury-Dennis]

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death is a terrible opportunity for Trump - Opinion

Sometimes it felt like she was America’s last hope. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court judge since 1993, achieved celebrity status during Trump’s four years, writes Holly Baxter.

Affectionately given the nickname “Notorious R.B.G” by a slew of online followers, she was the subject of superhero memes and the inspiration for much light-hearted merchandise (Urban Outfitters stocks T-shirts emblazoned with her face and her famously blunt quotes, and I gifted a friend in Brooklyn a cuddly Ginsburg doll for her newborn last year.)

Beneath the jokes, the quotes and the well-designed tote bags, however, ran an undercurrent of anxiety and fear. The fact that Supreme Court judges have lifetime appointments meant that many were morbidly obsessed with Ginsburg — who battled cancer on numerous occasions, and died of its complications today — staying alive long enough to get to the election. 

[19 September 2020 13:07 · Tom Embury-Dennis]

Amid all the fallout over Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, Donald Trump held an angry and foreboding rally in Minnesota on Friday night. 

In it, he suggested Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should be in prison, denigrated refugees, and complained over the FBI chief warning’s about Russian election interference.

Here are just a couple of the most noteworthy moments.

[19 September 2020 12:54 · Tom Embury-Dennis]

Trump seeks to shore up military support in North Carolina campaign swing

Republican President Donald Trump takes his re-election campaign to the political swing state of North Carolina on Saturday in an effort to boost his poll numbers against Democratic rival Joe Biden and shore up support among military members there.

Trump has boasted about revitalising the US armed forces with increased defense budgets but has seen his political support slip among troops.

A poll in the Military Times last month found a “slight but significant” preference among active duty military members for Biden, the former vice president, and a decline in favourability for Trump.

[19 September 2020 12:51 · Tom Embury-Dennis]

AOC urges Americans to 'get to work' to defeat Donald Trump following Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death

New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has urged Americans to “grow in courage, strength and strategy” – from “the streets to the Senate” – in the wake of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, weeks before a crucial November election that could determine the fate of the US Supreme Court for generations.

“We have lost a giant in the history of our nation with the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” she said on Twitter. “It is heartbreaking that in her final moments she was, as are many others, preoccupied with what would happen after her passing. I want to make one thing clear: we can, and must, fight.”

The Democratic congressman said “now is not the time for cynicism or hopelessness.”

[19 September 2020 12:35 · Tom Embury-Dennis]

Former White House ethics chief, Walter Shaub, has accused the Republican Party of fascism and has urged Democrats to fight attempts to install a Supreme Court replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg before November’s election.

[19 September 2020 12:30 · Tom Embury-Dennis]

Biden and McConnell clash over Supreme Court vacancy

The death of US supreme court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg little more than six weeks before the election cast an immediate spotlight on the high court vacancy, with senate majority leader Mitch McConnell quickly vowing to bring a vote on whoever President Donald Trump nominates.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden vigorously disagreed, declaring “voters should pick the president and the president should pick the justice to consider”.

Mr McConnell, in a statement some 90 minutes after Ms Ginsburg's death was announced, declared unequivocally that Mr Trump's nominee would go to a vote, even though he had stalled then-president Barack Obama's choice for months ahead of the 2016 election, eventually preventing a ballot.

Mr Trump, in brief remarks to reporters after learning of her death, called Ms Ginsburg “an amazing woman” who “led an amazing life”.

He had continued with a campaign speech for more than an hour after her death was announced, saying later he had been unaware of her passing.

Associated Press

[19 September 2020 12:21 · Tom Embury-Dennis]

What Senate Republicans said when Obama tried to confirm a Supreme Court judge in an election year

Senate Republicans may be forced to eat their own words four years after they blocked Barack Obama from filling a vacant supreme court seat in an election. The circumstances are the same — only the years, the names and the sides have changed.

In February of 2016, conservative legal giant Justice Antonin Scalia, died, leaving a space on the Supreme Court. The process is relatively straightforward: The sitting president nominates a qualified candidate, and the Senate votes to confirm with a simple majority.

But just hours after Scalia’s death, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that he would block any such move. It was an election year, he said; the American people should have a voice in deciding who should sit on the court, and the appointment should wait until after the election. Senate Republicans joined with him in blocking the appointment.

[19 September 2020 12:18 · Tom Embury-Dennis]

Here's who Trump wants as successor on Supreme Court

The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has set the scene for a fierce political battle to replace her just weeks away from a presidential election.

Earlier this month Donald Trump updated his roster of more than 20 potential Supreme Court nominees, from which he could appoint his third justice.

Those names included Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Senator Ted Cruz, who has denied any interest in taking the position.

[19 September 2020 11:51 · Tom Embury-Dennis]

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s most important Supreme Court opinions

Ruth Bader Ginsburg spent 27 years on the Supreme Court bench. In her life and in her work, she was a pioneer for equal rights for women and civil liberties.  

Throughout that long career, Ginsburg blazed a trail for women in a profession that has long been dominated by men. She was deeply involved in rulings on voting rights and immigration.

She also wrote crucial dissents on some of the key legal fights of the last few decades.

“Some of my favorite opinions are dissenting opinions,” Ginsburg once told NPR. “I will not live to see what becomes of them, but I remain hopeful.”