Context for this post: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away on Friday (you can read more about that in Lorenzo's post), which leaves a seat open in the Supreme Court.
Today, Trump announced that he will choose a replacement for RBG next week and that the new justice will be a woman. According to a source close to Trump, two likely nominees are Amy Coney Barrett and Barbara Lagoa, both of which hold conservative ideals. Barrett in particular believes that “life begins at conception,” meaning that if appointed, she would most likely vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the court case which effectively legalized abortions across the U.S.
As you might already know, a Supreme Court justice is appointed by the president and approved by the Senate. My initial thought was that the Democrats could filibuster to delay the appointment of a right-leaning justice. Filibustering would be an attempt to stall approval until after the election, giving Democrats a chance to take office and appoint a liberal court justice. This is extremely important for people on the left, as the Supreme Court has the ability to informally change the meaning of the Constitution as we've discussed in class.
However, filibustering is not a viable option at this point considering the precedent set by the 2017 appointment of Justice Gorsuch. The republicans utilized the "nuclear option," which basically changed the requirements of approving a justice to a simple majority in the Senate to stop filibustering. This, along with the fact that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hypocritically announced that the Senate would vote through Trump's nominee, makes this whole situation even worse for people with liberal beliefs. And, even if Democrats are able to stall until after the election on November 3rd, there is still the "lame-duck" period in which incumbent politicians are able to vote through a justice before replacements are sworn in.
Source 1: CNN
Source 3: Politico
Source 4: National Geographic
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