This was the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg 5:16
(CNN) -
As the United States mourned the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a brilliant pioneer for women and an equal rights icon, a fierce new political debate began to unfold Friday night. .
With just 45 days to go until the election, the battle over who will replace her and when the Senate vote will take place already reorganizes the stakes in more than half a dozen Senate races, while pushing passionate voters on both sides of the presidential campaign.
LOOK: Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at 87
The death of a Supreme Court justice so close to the November election was almost certain to return America's culture wars to the center of political debate in a year dominated by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and renewed momentum for racial justice after George Floyd's death.
That battle has the ability to breathe new energy into the electorate, activating conservative Republicans who have grown weary of President Donald Trump but see the election as an opportunity to shape the court, while mobilizing millions of female voters who they are already infuriated by Trump's demotion of women and by viewing his ability to appoint three Supreme Court justices in a single term as an attack on their values.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Most Memorable Speeches 2:44
New battle lines
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell immediately drew those partisan battle lines Friday night just over an hour after the announcement of Ginsburg's death, when he promised there would be a vote on Trump's nominee. by the end of this year.
The Kentucky Republican, who is running for re-election against a fundraising powerhouse, faces the possibility that the Republican Party will lose control of the Senate and Trump will lose the White House.
The balance of power in the Senate is so tight that McConnell can only afford to lose three Republican votes in his quest to get a candidate for Trump's Supreme Court confirmed.
"President Trump's nominee will receive a vote in the plenary session of the United States Senate," McConnell said in a statement.
GOP aides told CNN separately that they are skeptical that there is enough time before Election Day on November 3 to vet, conduct background checks, and set up the elaborate nomination and confirmation process that normally takes two. to three months.
In a message to his Republican colleagues Friday night, McConnell urged them to "keep the powder dry," according to one person who saw the note.
On Saturday morning, Trump tweeted that Republicans have an obligation to fill the seat without delay.
“@GOP We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions by the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of whom has long been considered the selection of the justices of the United States Supreme Court .
We have this obligation, without delay! "
Trump wrote.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden, who referred to Ginsburg's death after he got off a plane in Delaware on Friday night, said the decision on his replacement should wait until after the election.
He alluded to the precedent set by McConnell in 2016 when he refused to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, even though then-President Barack Obama had nominated Merrick Garland for the seat in March of that year. - months before the presidential elections.
"Let me clarify that the voters must choose the president and the president must choose the justice for the Senate to consider," said Biden, calling Ginsburg a "fierce and unshakable" defender of the civil and legal rights of all Americans. .
“This was the position that the Republican Senate took in 2016 when the elections were almost 10 months away.
That is the position that the United States Senate must take today, and there are only 46 days free, ”explained the former vice president.
Obama echoed that call in his own statement, saying Senate Republicans should adhere to the precedent they set four and a half years ago when they declined to vote for or against Garland.
"A basic principle of the law, and of everyday justice, is that we apply the rules with consistency and not based on what is convenient or advantageous at the moment," Obama said.
Other Democrats were quick to criticize McConnell's statement as the height of hypocrisy given that the Senate Majority Leader sat on Obama's Garland nomination throughout 2016, prompting many Democratic voters to say that his party was robbed of a Supreme Court seat, as McConnell argued that "the American people should have a say in the direction of the court."
Beyond the Democratic outrage, McConnell faces many logistical hurdles as he seeks to have a successor appointed in court by the end of the year.
Ginsburg - who was hailed as a "brilliant and successful litigator" who left an "impressive legacy" even by supporters like Republican Attorney General William Barr - made her own wishes known by dictating a statement to her granddaughter Clara Spera.
"My most fervent wish is that she not be replaced until a new president is installed," she told her granddaughter days before her death, according to National Public Radio.
The impact of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death on Court 4:17
Republican Senators in a Tough Situation
Several Republican senators facing tough reelection campaigns are stuck in a politically discouraging place.
Challenging Ginsburg's wishes could erode any lasting support they have among moderates and independents, while defying McConnell and Trump could depress the participation of the rank and file they need to win.
Among them are Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Martha McSally of Arizona, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is in an unexpectedly close re-election battle and is also president of the Judicial Commission.
McSally tweeted Friday night that "this United States Senate should vote on President Trump's nominee for the United States Supreme Court."
But Collins told Jonathan Martin of The New York Times in an interview earlier this month that he would not be serving as a Supreme Court justice in October.
"I think that's too close, really," Collins told Martin, adding that she also wouldn't feel comfortable seating a judge during the congressional session if the Democrats win the White House.
Tillis, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement Saturday that he would support the eventual Trump candidate.
In an interview prior to Ginsburg's death Friday with Alaska Public Media, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who broke with Trump and his party by voting against going ahead with Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Court. Supreme also said that it would not agree to confirm a candidate before election day.
"I would not vote to confirm a Supreme Court nominee.
We are 50 days away from an election, ”the Alaska Republican, who is not facing voters this year, told Alaska Public Media reporter Casey Grove.
In October 2018, before being beaten by a Democratic opponent who is now even with him in some public polls, Graham told reporters that if a Supreme Court opening occurred in the final year of Trump's term and primary process It had begun, “We will wait for the next elections.
And I have a good chance of being the judiciary (president) ».
But since then it has regressed.
«I would like to fill a vacancy.
But we would have to see.
I don't know how practical it would be, ”Graham told CNN in July.
"Let's see what the market will bear."
In all of those Senate races, Ginsburg's death is likely to reignite debates over candidates' positions on key issues facing the Supreme Court, including abortion, health care, gay rights, the right to freedom. vote and immigration.
Political groups on both sides are already preparing.
The progressive group "Demand Justice" sent out a fundraising request on Friday night asking its supporters to "protect the legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg" and stated that "this is a fight that will shape the future of the Supreme Court in the next decades ”.
The group plans to spend $ 10 million on an advertising campaign arguing that Ginsburg's vacancy should not be filled until after the inauguration.
LOOK: PHOTOS |
A look at the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice of the US Supreme Court.
An unexpected political blessing for Trump
Ginsburg led the progressive wing of the court, which had a 5-4 conservative majority before his death.
She was a progressive champion who continued to fight for her liberal beliefs on the court even through five rounds of cancer.
During an appearance at the Yale Club in New York in 2019, she said that she preferred to continue working even while battling cancer: "I found each time that when I am active, I am so much better than if I was just laying down and feeling sorry for myself."
But by taking some of the focus off Trump's mistakes, his death could rethink an election-year debate that has focused primarily on the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic crisis that forced millions of Americans out of their jobs.
The ability to nominate someone to lead the Supreme Court in a more conservative direction is an unexpected political blessing for Trump at a time when he is behind Biden in national polls and in many state polls.
In the view of many on the right, his record of confirming conservative judges is the highlight of his chaotic presidency.
A new fight for court balance could redeem Trump in the eyes of voters who were beginning to fade amid a mismanaged pandemic.
Keenly aware of the importance of his track record on judicial nominees, Trump unveiled his list of 20 potential conservative nominees to the Supreme Court earlier this month in an effort to generate more enthusiasm within his base.
At the time, Trump had appointed 205 federal judges, including two Supreme Court nominees, according to a spokeswoman for the Senate Judiciary Committee.
MORE: Reactions to Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Death
Trump included the names of three Republican senators on that list: Ted Cruz from Texas, Tom Cotton from Arkansas and Josh Hawley from Missouri.
"Aside from the issues of war and peace, the nomination of a Supreme Court justice is the most important decision a US president can make," he said during the event.
Trump was on stage at a rally in Minnesota, stoking racist fears about refugees, when Ginsburg's death was announced.
He spoke for 114 minutes without mentioning her and only learned of her passing from reporters on his way back to Air Force One.
In a statement, Trump said he demonstrated "that one can disagree without being disagreeable with colleagues of different points of view," a trait completely at odds with his own political tactics.
Trump spoke positively about Ginsburg on Friday night, but a source close to the president told CNN's Jim Acosta that Trump has been eager to nominate a replacement for the progressive, who was the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court.
During his lifetime, Ginsburg made no secret of his disdain for the president, telling CNN's Joan Biskupic that he was "a phony" who "had gotten away with not turning in his tax returns."
Trump said Ginsburg had "embarrassed everyone by making very silly political statements about me" and asked him to resign.
Ginsburg was at the forefront of many fiery political debates, and the debate over how his legacy should be honored by the current administration and the ruling party in the Senate may end up being one of the most combative.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg