Trump pledges to pick female Supreme Court justice

Voters will find out in the coming week whom President Donald Trump wants to fill the seat of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday at age 87. At a rally in Fayetteville, N.C., the president declared the choice would be “a very talented, very brilliant woman.” Amy Coney Barrett, a pro-life, Catholic judge from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is considered an early favorite—the White House included her on the shortlist of contenders from which Trump chose Brett Kavanaugh to fill former Justice Anthony Kennedy’s seat in 2018.

Will the nominee get confirmed before the election? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has promised to bring the nomination up for a vote, though it could happen during the lame duck session between the Nov. 3 election and inauguration. Democrats say Republicans should follow the precedent they set in 2016 when McConnell blocked President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in an election year. GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska both said whoever wins on Nov. 3 should pick Ginsburg’s replacement. It would take two more GOP defections for a confirmation vote to fail.

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Reichard’s conversation with the Heritage Foundation’s John Malcolm about the president’s updated list of nominees.

Editor’s note: WORLD has updated this report since its initial posting.