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Senator Murkowski: No support for Trump's plan
Photo: Greg Nash / AP
Donald Trump is encountering resistance with his attempt to nominate a successor to the late constitutional judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the election on November 3.
US Supreme Court justices are proposed by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and appointed for life.
The Republicans hold a majority in the Senate with 53 of the 100 votes - but several Republican Senators oppose Trump's plans.
Lisa Murkowski, a senator from Alaska, has now announced that she does not support Trump's attempt to fill the position on the Supreme Court so close to the election.
She said she believed the same standard should apply as in 2016, when Republicans, citing the election year, blocked attempts by the Democrats and President Barack Obama to vote on a successor to the late Constitutional Judge Antonin Scalia.
Previously, Maine Senator Susan Collins had raised similar concerns.
Collins advocated that the Senate should only vote on the judge's post after the presidential election - on a candidate proposed by the election winner.
Without Collins and Murkowski, Republicans would still have a majority of one vote in the Senate.
Should other members join the two senators and there would be a 50:50 stalemate, the decision would lie with Vice President Mike Pence.
President Trump has announced that he will fill the Supreme Court seat "without delay" and nominate a woman.
He would prefer the Senate to vote before the November 3rd presidential election, Trump said.
He will name his candidate in the coming week.
Trump named judges Amy Coney Barrett from Chicago and Barbara Lagoa from Atlanta as possibilities.
Trump and Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, have enough time for nominations and a vote.
The election will take place on November 3rd.
But the new congress will not be sworn in until January 3rd, the next president not until January 20th.
McConnell has already agreed to Trump's plan, but has not yet given a specific timetable.
The US president has already appointed two Supreme Court justices: Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. Kavanaugh was only barely confirmed after a former classmate accused him of sexual assault in 1982.
Should Trump appoint another member of the judges' college, a conservative 6: 3 majority would be secured for a long time.
That could seriously change the country (read more about this here).
Ginsburg was an icon of liberal America.
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