US President Donald Trump has promised to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a woman and to do so quickly.
Trump announced his intentions at a rally in North Carolina amid debate between Republicans and Democrats over whether the seat should be filled so close to an election.
At a North Carolina rally, Trump asked a crowd what they thought, concluding the choice for the court would be a “a very talented, very brilliant woman.”
His supporters chanted “fill that seat” during the rally, which took place a day after Justice Ginsburg died.
We win an election and those are the consequences, said Trump, who then seemed to say that he would accept a vote on his nominee after the election.
“We have a lot of time. We have plenty of time. We’re talking about January 20th.”
Amy Coney Barrett, a federal appeals court judge beloved among conservatives, has been named as an early favourite by US media.
At least one Republican senator has said the next president should fill the Supreme Court vacancy.
Republicans blocked confirmation hearings for Barack Obama’s nominee to the court in 2016, eight months before a presidential election. Now they say that as long as they control the Senate, Trump’s nominee should get a vote, a move that many Democrats have called hypocritical.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the average number of days it takes to confirm a justice is 69, which would be after the election. But some justices are confirmed more quickly.
Ginsburg, who was the leader of the court’s liberal bloc, was a champion of women’s rights and fought discrimination.