With Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's passing so close to the November
election, comes the political battle to fill her seat on the Supreme Court.
By all accounts, Ginsburg lived a remarkable legal and personal life, serving
nearly three decades on the bench, championing causes for gay rights, and
racial and gender equality.
Typically, it takes several months to vet and hold hearings on a Supreme
Court nominee, and time is
short ahead of the election.
"Now, we're talking about 46 days before the election, and this is
unprecedented. They've never had a Supreme Court justice nominee come through
in less than 70 days," says attorney Michael Mosberg.
Ginsburg led the court's
liberal wing, which held a five-to-four conservative majority before her death
from pancreatic cancer on Friday.
Her death instantly affected
the nation's politics in the midst of an already bitter presidential campaign.
Professor Bennett Gershman, of
Pace University, says, "The country is already polarized and divided, and now
with this nomination to the Supreme Court, its gonna get worse."
President Donald Trump now
has the chance to try to appoint a third member of his choosing, to the high
court.
"Republicans in the
Senate run the show and they have the power to nominate and confirm somebody to
the Supreme Court, and there's nothing that Democrats can do about it,"
Gershman says.
The president meanwhile
promises to move "without delay" on naming Ginsburg's successor,
despite senate Democrats' wanting to wait, to delay a confirmation until after
the election.
Gershman says, "We're gonna have to wait and see
how this thing plays out, but it's gonna be ugly."
A White House advisor says
the plan is to announce a SCOTUS pick before the first presidential debate, which
is set for Sept. 29.
A Trump nominee would give conservatives a more dominant six to three
majority in the U.S. Supreme Court.