WHAT’S THE STORY?
TONIGHT at 10pm GMT, or 5pm Washington time, President Donald Trump will announce his nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court of the United States of America (Scotus).
At the time of the scheduled announcement, RBG, as she was known to generations of Americans, will be less than a few hours in her grave. She will be buried alongside her husband Marty in Arlington National Cemetery after lying in state in the Capitol – the first woman to be accorded that honour.
At least Trump is showing some manners in waiting until she is interred – and he has pledged that he will replace a woman with another woman.
WHY IS THERE SUCH A ROW?
SINCE Justice Bader Ginsburg died eight days ago, the American political scene has been disrupted by the decision of Donald Trump to immediately nominate her successor.
With six weeks to the election, that is seen as very bad form by his Democratic opponents and a number of his own party members, not least because the Republicans stopped President Barack Obama from putting his own choice of Justice on Scotus back in the election year of 2016.
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RBG was a noted liberal who made her reputation fighting equality cases, and she was very much identified with the left-of-centre wing on the Supreme Court. Trump wants a right-wing Conservative judge to step up to Scotus to further his agenda.
There has been outrage on many sides at Trump’s decision, but his loyal supporters and most especially the Republican majority in the Senate are backing him – his nominee will require Senate approval.
Prominent legal figures have queued up to query Trump’s right to nominate ahead of the election, pointing out that the current eight Justices took an average of 78 days to be approved by the Senate – Trump has just 38 days until the election .
WHAT IS THE SUPREME COURT ALL ABOUT?
SCOTUS is the highest court in the USA and gives the final legal verdict on both civil and criminal matters – usually deciding on issues such as highly contentious laws, disputes between the federal government and individual states and is the final appeals for stays of executions.
Fewer than 100 cases per year go to Scotus and those coming up include decisions on controversial gun and abortion laws. In recent years, for example, the court extended the right to gay marriage to all 50 states.
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The difference between the US and UK Supreme Courts is that judges in this country are appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister and First Minister who rely on supposedly independent panels to select the best candidate regardless of their personal politics and philosophies. Not so with Scotus where a Justice’s personal beliefs are examined closely.
Each of the nine Justices serves for life after being nominated by the president and approved by the Senate. There are usually days and weeks of hearings and interviews by Senators before the appointment is ratified. Trump wants to skip all that bother.
WHY IS TRUMP DOING THIS?
IT’S hard to not conclude that the controversy is all to do with this very divisive election and boosting Trump’s own campaign rather than just the choice of a new Justice to bring the numbers back to the statutory nine on Scotus.
The actual detailed ins-and-outs of the row are probably beyond the comprehension of most Americans, but with his genius for making a story turn his way, Trump has turned this nomination into a political football, and he’s kicking for the right wing as always.
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One theory is that with Trump already threatening to challenge the result should he lose, he wants his choice on board Scotus to vote for him. And the Supreme Court does have that power – when Al Gore sought a manual recount of the votes in Florida, Scotus voted 5-4 to deny the recount, handing the state’s 25 votes in the electoral college, thus the presidency to George W Bush.
The main dissenter to the decision was Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
CAN HE BE STOPPED?
THE Democrats are already lining up a whole host of procedural issues to delay the appointment. Question is will that hinder or help Joe Biden’s campaign?
WHO IS THE LIKELY NOMINEE?
UNUSUALLY there have been no leaks, but the name of Amy Coney Barrett keeps being heard.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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