Renee-Lauren Ellis, a Washington, D.C.-area attorney, says, "It's dire that something as fundamental as what I do with my body is up for debate still, in 2020." Sarah McCammon/NPR
With her 14-month-old daughter on her hip, Anna Lashley, an attorney from Washington D.C., came to pay her last respects to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Supreme Court on Saturday.
"I just can't wait to tell my daughter about her, and teach her about the lessons she taught me, and what she did for women," Lashley said.
Now, with a vacancy on the court left by Ginsburg's death, President Trump appears poised to name his third Supreme Court nominee in less than four years — tilting the court even further to the right than its 5-4 conservative majority that existed until Friday.
"I'm terrified for women in this country," Lashley said. "I'm very concerned about what it will mean for Roe v. Wade going forward. I'm worried that other people aren't going to be able to take up the fight that she did for us."
Without Ginsburg's reliable liberal vote and her consistent voice for reproductive rights, Renee-Lauren Ellis has similar fears about the future of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide in 1973. Ellis, who's also a lawyer in the D.C. area, said she's afraid of what she sees as the potential to go backward.
"It's dire that something as fundamental as what I do with my body is up for debate still, in 2020," Ellis said.
Ginsburg's death sets up a divisive nomination fight in the midst of a presidential campaign. And, advocates on opposing sides of the issue agree, it could be a turning point in the long-running debate over one of the most divisive issues for the court — abortion rights.
For those opposed to abortion rights, a Supreme Court vacancy just weeks before a presidential election also marks a pivot point.
"For the pro-life movement and the work that we do there, this is the moment that we've been building towards," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion rights group the Susan B. Anthony List, which has spent years working to elect Republican senators and confirm conservative judges and has staunchly supported President Trump and his judicial nominees.
Dannenfelser says she and her family happened to be sitting outside the Supreme Court on Friday evening when they heard the news of Ginsburg's death.
"It was such a sense of profound meaning that we felt in her passing, and also a moment of change," she said. "That in this place that we're sitting will be the pivot point of change in our country."
Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson agrees there's a lot at stake.
"The fate of our rights, our freedoms, our health care, our bodies, our lives, our country, literally depends on what happens over the coming months," McGill Johnson said.
Groups that support abortion rights, including Planned Parenthood and NARAL, say they'll be working to apply pressure to potentially vulnerable Republican senators facing reelection now or in 2022, demanding they wait to confirm a replacement for Ginsburg until after the November election.
McGill Johnson notes that four years ago, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell famously refused to hold hearings to consider President Obama's nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia. At that time, the presidential election was more than eight months away, and McConnell argued it was too close. Now, with the election about six weeks away, McConnell is promising to work quickly to confirm a Trump nominee.
"Mitch McConnell keeps making up the rules to suit his desires and his will to maintain power," McGill Johnson said. "In a democracy it's really important that we all play by the same rules."
President Trump speaks at a campaign rally Saturday at the Fayetteville Regional Airport in North Carolina. Chris Carlson/AP
A day after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, chants of "Fill that seat! Fill that seat!" broke out during President Trump's campaign rally in Fayetteville, N.C., on Saturday.
"That's what we're going to do. We're going to fill that seat!" Trump said, saying his supporters should print "Fill that seat!" on T-shirts.
The president also pledged to nominate a woman for the seat, saying "I actually like women much more than I like men." He went on to "poll" the crowd about whether they'd prefer a man or a woman for the seat. The cheers were much louder for a woman nominee.
"It will be a woman, a very talented, very brilliant woman," Trump then announced.
Earlier Saturday, Trump had said he expects to announce the nominee next week.
Trump said previous presidents have filled vacancies on the court "every single time," ignoring the Republican-controlled Senate's refusal to consider former President Barack Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland ahead of the 2016 election.
"Nobody said, 'Let's not fill that seat," Trump said. "We win an election, and those are the consequences."
Trump also nodded to Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who is up for reelection in a tough race and earlier Saturday said he would approve Trump's nominee if a vote was held before Election Day.
The Democrats would need four Republicans to join them to stop Trump's nominee.
Anita Hill speaks onstage at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in October 2018 in Laguna Niguel, Calif. Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Fortune
Both Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anita Hill became cultural figures in their fight for gender equality. In the aftermath of Justice Ginsburg's death, Hill says, "her legacy is so large."
"I think that her voice brought to the court her willingness to really push for a full and inclusive definition of equality," Hill told NPR's All Things Considered. "I think those are things that characterized her and I think that's how she will be remembered."
Before her tenure on the Supreme Court, Ginsburg was a prominent lawyer who was instrumental in fighting gender discrimination. She brought that experience with her when President Bill Clinton nominated her to the high court in 1993.
This was two years after President George H.W. Bush nominated Clarence Thomas to become an associate justice. His confirmation hearings in 1991 captivated the nation after allegations surfaced that Thomas had sexually harassed Hill, a lawyer who had worked for him at a previous job.
Hill, who is now a professor of social policy, law and women's studies at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, spoke with NPR's Michel Martin about Ginsburg's legacy, her fight for gender equality and more.
Interview Highlights
On Ruth Bader Ginsburg's fight for gender equality
I think of her contributions as really helping us define in a very inclusive way what equality was going to mean — what it would look like if we ultimately get to it. And of course being inclusive, her impact did have very much to do with the issues of gender violence, including sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace.
On Ruth Bader Ginsburg's famous dissents
The fact that she continued to advocate on behalf of equality even though she was in the minority, I think, that is what has inspired a lot of people. And I'll give you a prime example and that is in the Ledbetter case involving equal pay for women. When the majority ruled in favor of the tire company that was paying Lilly Ledbetter less money, she wrote a dissent, read the dissent and urged Congress to correct the court's decision — and that actually happened about a year and a half after she read her dissent from the bench. I think with actions like that, that really captured our imagination and said that even when you may seem to be down and your position may seem to be lost, there are ways that you can move on to win.
On Ruth Bader Ginsburg's legacy
One of the things that concerns me most is that we will no longer have a pioneer in the civil rights movement or women's rights movement on the court. And I think we are losing something now that we've lost that voice. We had it with Thurgood Marshall and we've had it with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And I hope that somehow we can regain that.
Robert Baldwin III and William Troop produced and edited the audio version of this story. Christianna Silva adapted it for the Web.
Chief Justice John Roberts called Ginsburg "a jurist of historic stature." Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Supreme Court justices, both current and former, are remembering their colleague Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday at the age of 87.
"Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her — a tireless and resolute champion of justice," wrote Chief Justice John Roberts in a statement Friday.
Current and former justices reminisced Saturday about their colleague, recalling a diligent legal mind who embodied wisdom, integrity and kindness.
Stephen Breyer wrote that he heard of Ginsburg's death while reciting the Mourner's Kaddish during Rosh Hashanah services. "The world is a better place for her having lived in it," he said.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor called her "a pathbreaking champion of women's rights."
"She served our Court and country with consummate dedication, tirelessness, and passion for justice. She has left a legacy few could rival," wrote Sotomayor.
Justice Elena Kagan remembered Ginsburg as a hero working to ensure the "country's legal system lives up to its ideals and extends its rights and protections to those once excluded." Kagan also recounted Ginsburg's encouragement throughout her career.
"Ruth reached out to encourage and assist me in my career, as she did for so many others, long before I came to the Supreme Court. And she guided and inspired me, on matters large and small, once I became her colleague," Kagan said in her statement.
Praise for Ginsburg wasn't restricted to her fellow liberals on the court. Justices across the ideological divide shared fond memories of their former colleague. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that his colleague of nearly 30 years was the "essence of grace, civility and dignity."
"The most difficult part of a long tenure is watching colleagues decline and pass away. And, the passing of my dear colleague, Ruth, is profoundly difficult and so very sad. I will dearly miss my friend," Thomas wrote.
Other conservative justices also shared their memories of Ginsburg. Neil Gorsuch wrote of a colleague with a sweet tooth and appreciation for opera. Justice Brett Kavanaugh said he kept a photo of her standing with four of his former law clerks in his chambers. Justice Samuel Alito called her "a leading figure in the history of the Court."
Other remembrances came from two former justices. Anthony Kennedy wrote that Ginsburg was "remarkably well prepared for every case." David Souter told NPR he was "heartbroken" by Ginsburg's death.
"She was this rare combo of an intellectual giant in the law with a soft center and wonderful sense of humor," Souter said.
President Trump speaks with reporters on the South Lawn prior to departing the White House on Saturday. Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images
President Trump says that he expects to announce a nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death "next week" and that the pick will likely be a woman.
"A choice of a woman would certainly be appropriate," he told reporters at the White House on Saturday before leaving for a campaign rally in North Carolina.
"We want to respect the process," Trump said. "I think it's going to go very quickly, actually." He had previously tweeted that Republicans should move forward with a nominee "without delay."
Shortly after the court announced Ginsburg's death on Friday night, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he intends to bring the president's selection to a vote on the Senate floor.
Democrats have cried foul, saying there should not be a vote until after the election. They point to McConnell's decision in 2016 to stop then-President Barack Obama's nomination to fill the late Justice Antonin Scalia's seat on the court.
Now, attention is on more moderate Senate Republicans such as Susan Collins of Maine, who is in a tough reelection fight.
In a statement on Saturday, Collins said that she does not support a vote on a Supreme Court nominee before the election and that the winner of the presidential election should name the pick. She did not explicitly say she would vote to stop a pre-election nomination if it happened.
"We won [the last election] and we have an obligation as the winners to pick who we want," Trump said. He predicted the Senate would move quickly on his nominee. "I would think before [the Nov. 3 election] would be very good."
Trump was asked by reporters about Judge Amy Coney Barrett, whom he called "highly respected," but stopped short of saying she was the front-runner. Reporters also asked about another jurist being mentioned as a potential choice: Judge Barbara Lagoa. Trump said he had heard good things about her, and noted she is Hispanic and from Miami.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins' 2018 vote in favor of President Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, has been a notable issue for Maine voters. Greg Nash/The Hill/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins says the nomination of a Supreme Court justice to fill the vacancy left by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg should be made by whichever candidate wins the presidential election.
Citing the proximity to Election Day — now just weeks away — she said in a statement Saturday: "In fairness to the American people, who will either be re-electing the President or selecting a new one, the decision on a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court should be made by the President who is elected on November 3rd."
Collins, who's often a key vote in Senate battles, faces a tough reelection fight in Maine, as recent polling has her trailing challenger Sara Gideon, the Democratic state House speaker. Collins' 2018 vote in favor of President Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, has been a notable issue for Maine voters.
Collins' statement follows a pledge Friday night from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that "President Trump's nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate."
Trump has said the GOP should select a new justice "without delay," while his opponent, Democratic nominee Joe Biden, has said the Senate shouldn't take up the vacancy until after voters have expressed their choice in the election.
As NPR's Kelsey Snell noted, Collins told The New York Times earlier this month that she opposes a Supreme Court confirmation process in October, so close to the election.
Another key Senate vote, Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, has also said she wouldn't support confirming a new justice until after the presidential election.
Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing in August. Carolyn Kaster/AP
Updated at 10:38 p.m. ET
With Republican leadership united behind President Trump's decision to quickly nominate a new Supreme Court justice to fill the vacancy left by Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death on Friday, Senate Democrats are hoping to block a vote by swaying a few moderate Republicans to their side.
"Hope springs eternal," Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois told Scott Simon on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday. He cited past comments by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, that they would be against holding a vote during the waning months of Trump's first and possibly only presidential term.
In a statement remembering Ginsburg on Friday, Murkowski made no mention of filling the vacancy. On Saturday, Collins said that the nomination should be made by whichever president is elected in November.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has also said he wouldn't confirm a Supreme Court nomination in 2020. Democrats are also hopeful that Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, might also push back. He broke with the rest of the Senate Republicans on impeachment earlier this year.
"I think we have to be consistent one way or the other," said Durbin, who sits on the Judiciary Committee. "You would hope that reasonable people could sit down and find a compromise that is fair. But I will tell you, the experience we've had with Sen. McConnell in filling federal judicial vacancies over the last several years don't give me much hope."
It takes 51 Senate votes to confirm a Supreme Court nominee. Republicans hold 53 seats. In the event of a 50-50 tie, Vice President Pence would cast the deciding vote. Therefore, the 47-member Democratic caucus needs the support of four Republicans to block the nomination.
"It only takes four," Durbin said. "If there are four who will stand together and tell Sen. McConnell that this is the wrong thing to do, that if we argued before that Obama did not have — should not have the authority to fill a Supreme Court vacancy in the closing days of a presidency, that the American people should have the last word in an election, if that was the standard back in the [Antonin] Scalia vacancy, it should apply as well here."
According to University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias, who studies the selection of federal judges, it's unprecedented in modern times for enough senators to push back on their own party's leadership to block a Supreme Court nomination.
Then again, "what McConnell did was also unprecedented" when he blocked President Barack Obama's 2016 nomination of Merrick Garland, Tobias told NPR. Finding four Republicans willing to go against McConnell and Trump would be "a really tough vote to have, but it's not inconceivable," he said.
The flag flies at half-staff Saturday at the Supreme Court on the morning after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Updated at 7:28 p.m. ET
Judges Amy Coney Barrett, Barbara Lagoa and Allison Jones Rushing are emerging as serious contenders to fill the seat on the Supreme Court vacated by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, according to sources familiar with the process.
An announcement on the nominee could come as early as Monday or Tuesday.
Barrett is the front-runner, according to the sources. A former high-ranking White House lawyer told NPR's Tamara Keith that "Barrett remains very highly regarded. She would be a brilliant and compassionate justice. Her intellect and thought leadership are well-established. It is telling in these violent chaotic times that opposition to her is based primarily on her Catholic faith."
Barrett sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit and was a finalist for Trump's second high court nomination, which ultimately went to Brett Kavanaugh.
Lagoa, a Florida native, sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Trump spoke highly of her Saturday evening and Republicans have hopes she could energize Latino voters. One source said D.C.'s legal establishment has questions about her reliability as a conservative voice on the bench.
Rushing sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. She's a favorite of evangelical groups, an important part of the Trump base. Born in 1982, she would be in position to serve for decades.
Amul Thapar of Kentucky, from the 6th Circuit, also is under consideration. He's championed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Sources in the executive branch told NPR's Carrie Johnson that Kate Todd, deputy assistant to the president and deputy counsel to the president, is also in the running.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., says it would be "political hypocrisy" for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to hold a vote before Election Day on any nominee to replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Tom Williams/AP
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., says it would be "political hypocrisy" for Republicans to move ahead and confirm a nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court before Election Day.
"I've seen things I've questioned, but I've never seen political hypocrisy at this level. I mean, it will actually go down in the journals of political hypocrisy," Leahy said in an interview Saturday with NPR's Weekend Edition.
Leahy's remarks followed a statement from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that the Senate will vote on whomever President Trump nominates to succeed Ginsburg, who died Friday at the age of 87.
Leahy echoed a growing chorus of Democrats — including former President Obama and Democratic nominee Joe Biden — who have all said Ginsburg's replacement should be selected after the presidential election. Ginsburg herself in her final days dictated a statement saying, "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed."
Leahy, who sits on the Senate Judiciary committee, called McConnell's stance a "flip flop," pointing to his refusal to consider Obama nominee Merrick Garland in the months leading up to the 2016 election. He said a vote now would "stain the Supreme Court."
"The Supreme Court has to be above politics," Leahy said. "... If they are seen as just a political arm of whoever is president, it loses that validity. It loses the confidence the American people should have in the Supreme Court."
Following the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, McConnell said that picking his replacement should await the results of that year's election because "the American people should have a voice in the selection."
In his Friday statement, McConnell drew a distinction between then and now, saying unlike in 2016 when Democrats controlled the White House and Republicans the Senate, the president and the Senate majority are now of the same party.
Leahy said that in the coming days he would try to appeal to his Republican colleagues based on "their sense of tradition, their sense that the Senate should be the conscience of the nation."
He added that he had hoped that his colleagues would "take a deep breath and talk about the legacy of Justice Ginsburg."
Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, stopped outside the Supreme Court Saturday morning, following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
"Justice Ginsburg was a titan—a relentless defender of justice and a legal mind for the ages," Harris said in a tweet. "The stakes of this election couldn't be higher. Millions of Americans are counting on us to win and protect the Supreme Court—for their health, for their families, and for their rights."
Harris, of course, is not only Joe Biden's running mate; she's also a California senator who serves on the Judiciary Committee, which would consider a new nominee, should President Trump put one forward.
Read more about mourners gathering in front of the court here, and find all of our coverage of Ginsburg's death here.
Sen. Lindsey Graham has walked back repeated statements that a Supreme Court should not be filled in a presidential election year. Jim Bourg/AP
Updated at 3:09 p.m. ET
Almost immediately upon learning of the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, attention moved to whether Republicans would attempt to fill her seat before the election.
Many eyes turned to moderate Republican senators like Susan Collins of Maine or Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. But even more conservative Republicans have, in the past, expressed their reluctance to fill a vacancy during an election year. Chief among those is South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Graham, who as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee would oversee confirmation hearings, said Saturday that he would support President Trump "in any effort to move forward regarding the recent vacancy created by the passing of Justice Ginsburg."
But this is a reversal from his earlier position; Graham has said multiple times that if a vacancy opened up in the run-up to a presidential election, he would hold off on confirmation.
"I want you to use my words against me. If there's a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said, 'Let's let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination,' " he said in 2016 shortly after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. "And you could use my words against me and you'd be absolutely right."
“I want you to use my words against me. If there’s a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let’s let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination." pic.twitter.com/quD1K5j9pz
— Vanita Gupta (@vanitaguptaCR) September 19, 2020
Graham repeated the sentiment in October 2018 in an interview with The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. "If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump's term, and the primary process has started, we'll wait till the next election."
Graham later walked back those remarks. This spring, Graham said circumstances had changed since Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., blocked the appointment of Merrick Garland during the last year of Barack Obama's presidential term.
"Merrick Garland was a different situation," Graham said on Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren, as reported by The Hill. "You had the president of one party nominating, and you had the Senate in the hands of the other party. A situation where you've got them both would be different. I don't want to speculate, but I think appointing judges is a high priority for me in 2020."
Graham repeated his sentiment just last month, telling reporters that he was prepared to advance a nominee, even during this election year.
"Yeah. We'll cross that bridge," Graham said, NBC News reported. "After [Brett] Kavanaugh, the rules have changed as far as I'm concerned."
In a statement Friday evening, Graham expressed condolences over Ginsburg's passing. "Justice Ginsburg was a trailblazer who possessed tremendous passion for her causes," he said. "While I had many differences with her on legal philosophy, I appreciate her service to our nation."
On Saturday morning, Trump was resolute in his call for Ginbsurg's seat to be filled immediately. He tweeted: "We have this obligation, without delay!"
A short time later, Graham responded. "I fully understand where President @realDonaldTrump is coming from," he said, retweeting the president's comments. "As to my view of filling a Supreme Court vacancy in 2020, I'd encourage you to review these most recent statements," he added, citing his remarks to NBC News in August that "the rules have changed."
Things are different now because of two moves made by Democrats over the past decade, Graham said. The first was when then-Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada changed Senate rules to allow for a simple majority vote for circuit court nominees.
The second, Graham said, was when "Chuck Schumer and his friends in the liberal media conspired to destroy the life of Brett Kavanaugh and hold that Supreme Court seat open."
Graham's explanation of the changing rules leaves out some important context. While it is true that the Democrat-controlled Senate invoked the so-called "nuclear option" in 2013 to make it easier to pass lower court judges in the face of Republican opposition, it was McConnell who raised the stakes in 2017, applying the same simple-majority rule to Supreme Court confirmations.
McConnell said Friday that whomever Trump nominates will get a Senate vote. That would go against Ginsburg's final wishes. In a statement dictated to her granddaughter just days before her death, Ginsburg urged delaying a vote to fill her seat. "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed," she said.
President Trump speaks about the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg after a campaign rally on Friday. Evan Vucci/AP
When President Trump learned Friday night that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died, he told reporters she was an "amazing woman." Later, in an official statement, he called her a "titan of the law." And while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., wrote in a statement that he would bring a vote for a new justice to the floor, Trump did not weigh in.
But in a tweet Saturday morning, Trump appeared to suggest that he wanted to put a new justice on the court before Election Day.
"@GOP We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices," he tweeted. "We have this obligation, without delay!"
.@GOP We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices. We have this obligation, without delay!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2020
Moving forward with a nomination process weeks before a hotly contested election will put pressure on moderate Republicans senators like Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Both recently expressed their preference to not confirm a new justice before the election.
Collins is facing the toughest reelection race of her Senate career. On Friday, Murkowski told Alaska Public Media shortly before the announcement of Ginsburg's death that she would not vote to confirm a nominee before the election.
Meanwhile, Democrats say the seat should be held open until after the election, especially given Republican refusals to consider President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the court roughly eight months before the 2016 election.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who is facing a tight race in North Carolina, wrote that he will support Trump's selection, saying that Garland's nomination was put forward amid divided government and a lame-duck presidency. In a nod to the court's renewed importance as an election issue, Tillis mentioned his Democratic opponent by name and framed his Senate election and the nomination fight as intertwined.
"There is a clear choice on the future of the Supreme Court between the well-qualified and conservative jurist President Trump will nominate and I will support, and the liberal activist Joe Biden will nominate and Cal Cunningham will support, who will legislate radical, left-wing policies from the bench."
President Trump shakes hands with Neil Gorsuch, his first pick for a spot on the U.S. Supreme Court, on Jan. 31, 2017. The president will likely have the opportunity to name a replacement for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday. Carolyn Kaster/AP
Candidates on the short list for a Supreme Court vacancy undergo intense vetting that typically culminates in a one-on-one interview with the president.
The process is shrouded in secrecy, but President Trump's flair for the dramatic has introduced a sense of showmanship to the highly choreographed rollout.
In January 2017, a journalist at CNN corralled federal appeals court Judge Thomas Hardiman as he stopped at a gas station in Pennsylvania to fill up his tank. The reporter asked whether Hardiman was on his way to Washington, D.C., for a ceremony to announce the replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. The judge held up his hand to the camera, and rushed into his car without answering the question.
Hardiman, who earned money for law school by driving a taxicab, had been a favorite of the president's sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, who served alongside him on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. It later emerged that the White House secretly flew its pick for high court, Neil Gorsuch, to D.C. on a military jet, and that he stayed in the home of a friend to avoid detection before a prime-time announcement that featured Gorsuch walking down a red carpet.
For his next Supreme Court vacancy, the president spoke with a number of lawyers, including Amy Coney Barrett, a former Notre Dame law professor who now sits on the federal appeals court for the Seventh Circuit. Barrett has seven children, including two who were adopted from Haiti. Democratic senators have highlighted her conservative Catholic roots and warned she could offer a decisive vote to overturn the landmark abortion ruling Roe v. Wade.
Barrett signed a public statement against the Affordable Care Act's birth-control benefit in 2012 and five years later, she wrote a paper in which she criticized John Roberts' decision to uphold the ACA's penalty as a tax, reasoning that the chief justice had pushed the law known as Obamacare "beyond its plausible meaning to save the statute."
Those writings drew criticism from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer the last time Barrett made Trump's shortlist.
But after Barrett met with Trump in 2018, one news report suggested Trump had cut short the session, leading some court watchers to believe she had not made a good impression with the president. He ultimately chose Brett Kavanaugh to fill the seat made vacant by Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement.
Trump's advisers view his 200-plus appointments to lifetime seats on the federal bench as his most enduring legacy, and they have been adding to the list of Supreme Court candidates in recent weeks.
One new name on the list is Judge James Ho, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Ho, the son of immigrants from Taiwan, typifies the Trump judicial nominee: young, conservative and unafraid to court controversy.
A pillow with Ruth Bader Ginsburg's likeness on it sits on a couch inside the office of ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising platform, in Somerville, Mass. Boston Globe/Boston Globe via Getty Images
In politics, money can be a pretty good stand-in for enthusiasm. And the donations pouring in to the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue since Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death indicate there is a lot of energy and money on the left.
According to the constantly-ticking tracker on ActBlue's website, in the hours from 9 p.m. ET, when the news of Ginsburg's death became widely known, to Saturday afternoon, more than $46 million was donated to Democratic candidates and causes. The number keeps rising by thousands every second.
The death of the iconic justice could change the ideological balance of the court and raises the already high stakes in the race for president and U.S. Senate. Traditionally, the courts have been a powerful motivator for conservative voters, especially white evangelical Christians. The question now is whether that dynamic will change in 2020 because the vacancy left by Ginsburg is so significant for those on the left.
The Trump campaign, Republican National Committee and the congressional campaign committees did not immediately respond to requests for comparable fundraising data.
President Trump reacts to the news of the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday on the tarmac of Bemidji Regional Airport in Minnesota. Brendan Smialowski /AFP via Getty Images
President Trump, who called Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg "a titan of the law," will be able to pick a successor for her from a list of nearly four dozen names that he updated Sept. 9.
The most recent list, with three U.S. senators, was avowedly more political than the ones he previously released, both as a presidential candidate and as president. Trump's first two Supreme Court picks, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, came from the president's earlier list.
His list also includes sitting judges, two past solicitors general and conservative lawyers. Trump has said his Supreme Court nominees will come from among these names:
Bridget Bade, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit (Barrett was a finalist for Trump's second high court nomination, which ultimately went to Kavanaugh.)
Keith Blackwell, Supreme Court of Georgia
Charles Canady, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Florida
Daniel Cameron, attorney general of Kentucky
Paul Clement, a partner with Kirkland & Ellis, who previously served as solicitor general
Steven Colloton of Iowa, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit
Tom Cotton, U.S. senator for Arkansas
Ted Cruz, U.S. senator for Texas
Stuart Kyle Duncan, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit
Allison Eid of Colorado, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit
Steven Engel, assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice
Noel Francisco, former solicitor general
Britt Grant of Georgia, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
Raymond Gruender of Missouri, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit
Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit (Hardiman was also a finalist for the nomination that went to Kavanaugh.)
Josh Hawley, U.S. senator for Missouri (Hawley has already said he would decline the president's endorsement to the court.)
James Ho, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit
Gregory Katsas, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit
Barbara Lagoa, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
Christopher Landau, U.S. ambassador to Mexico
Joan Larsen of Michigan, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit
Mike Lee, U.S. senator for Utah
Thomas Lee, Supreme Court of Utah
Edward Mansfield, Supreme Court of Iowa
Federico Moreno, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Carlos Muñiz, Supreme Court of Florida
Kevin Newsom of Alabama, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
Martha Pacold, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Peter Phipps, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit
Sarah Pitlyk, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
William Pryor of Alabama, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
Allison Jones Rushing, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit
Margaret Ryan of Virginia, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
David Stras of Minnesota, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit
Diane Sykes of Wisconsin, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit
Amul Thapar of Kentucky, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit
Kate Todd, deputy assistant to the president and deputy counsel to the president
Timothy Tymkovich of Colorado, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit
Lawrence VanDyke, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
Robert Young, Supreme Court of Michigan (Ret.)
Don Willett, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit
Patrick Wyrick, District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
A crowd gathers at the U.S. Supreme Court to mourn the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday. Tyrone Turner/WAMU
On the steps of the Supreme Court building, soft cries and the low murmur of chirping crickets filled the air as hundreds of people grieved the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Occasionally short bursts of clapping broke out before the crowd resumed its silence. At points, the crowd sang "Amazing Grace," "America the Beautiful" and "Imagine" by the John Lennon.
Shawn Boykins, 35, said a friend texted him about the news as soon as it happened. He was in the neighborhood and thought to visit the court to pay his respects.
Mourners gather at a vigil for Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Tyrone Turner/WAMU
"I can't help but think about the political implications, but I'm trying to set that aside," Boykins said. "It just reinforces that a lot's at stake in the election with so much happening, with the fires, climate change and everything."
Nairika Murphy said she was one of the first people to show up at the Supreme Court to pay her respects. She was on a walk when her family texted her the news. Not too long after she arrived, the crowd swelled into the hundreds.
"I think she just did a lot for this country and it's really important that people recognize that and show support and also be clear and have a visual representation we're not going anywhere, regardless of who's placed in her spot and who's elected, that we're not going to move backward to the 1950s," she said.
A rainbow flag is waved as people gather at a makeshift memorial for late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Tyrone Turner/WAMU
Murphy added that she hopes people channel the feelings of this moment — the anger, frustration and even hope — into civic action at the polls this November.
"I think that this country is in a really dangerous place, and I think the fact that we're still questioning climate science and women's reproductive rights, it's unbelievable to me," Murphy said.
Johanna Elsemore, 34, and Courtney Tate, 36, live a few blocks from the Supreme Court. The couple brought candles to honor Ginsburg's life and legacy. Elsemore said she felt compelled to honor Ginsburg's accomplishments and support of women throughout the years.
A man lights a candle on the steps of the Supreme Court. Tyrone Turner/WAMU
"We were talking on the way up here and about how easy it is to get swept up in all the politics and the emotional back and forth of Supreme Court decisions and wrap that up with the grief of losing somebody as monumental," Tate said. "But I think the better thing to do is remember RBG and rejoice in the work she did."
Read more from WAMU and DCist here.
Mourners gather during a vigil for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Friday. Tyrone Turner/WAMU
The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a major cultural moment and has potential implications for the next generation of American society.
Just look at the images of people who crowded the Supreme Court's steps Friday night after news of her death broke.
The Supreme Court hasn't been this conservative in three-quarters of a century, and if President Trump nominates a replacement for her seat, and he or she is confirmed, it would move the court even further to the right and be difficult for liberals to take control of for a very long time.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is vowing to bring a Trump nominee to the Senate floor for a vote — despite his denial of even a hearing for then-President Barack Obama's 2016 Supreme Court nominee, with far more time to go until the election.
People lit candles and left flowers and notes on the steps of the court. Tyrone Turner/WAMU
It's unclear when that vote would take place — either before the election or during a lame-duck session. And it's not clear if Republicans would have the votes to pass a nominee. It would almost certainly be close.
It's also not clear how — or if — this reshapes the calculus in any way for the 2020 election. It could fire up the GOP base, which cares a great deal about the court. And it could fire up Democrats, especially women, to go to the polls for Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
But little has moved the needle in this election one way or the other, and those groups were already enthusiastic about voting.
A woman, mourning the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, holds a sign at the Supreme Court that reads, "when there are nine," something Ginsburg said to describe when there'd be enough women on the court. Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images
So no one really knows how any of this is going to play out except to say that there is going to be some kind of fight over this seat.
President Barack Obama greets Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg prior to his 2012 State of the Union address. Saul Loeb/AP
Former President Barack Obama paid tribute to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday, calling on Republicans to delay filling the vacancy left by her death until after the 2020 presidential election.
Ginsburg died from cancer complications earlier on Friday. She was 87.
In his statement, Obama called Ginsburg a "warrior for gender equality" who "inspired the generations who followed her, from the tiniest trick-or-treaters to law students burning the midnight oil to the most powerful leaders in the land."
Regarding the task of filling her Supreme Court seat, he asked Republicans to "apply rules with consistency, and not based on what's convenient or advantageous in the moment," referring to the precedent set when the Senate would not hold a hearing on his nomination of Merrick Garland in 2016 following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
"Four and a half years ago, when Republicans refused to hold a hearing or an up-or-down vote on Merrick Garland, they invented the principle that the Senate shouldn't fill an open seat on the Supreme Court before a new president was sworn in," he said. "As votes are already being cast in this election, Republican Senators are now called to apply that standard."
The former president also referenced Ginsburg's "instructions for how she wanted her legacy to be honored." Before her death, she told her granddaughter, Clara Spera, that her "most fervent wish" was that she would not be replaced "until a new president is installed."
Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday at the age of 87. Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Berggruen Insti
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the feminist Supreme Court justice who inspired generations of women, died on Friday at the age of 87.
Throughout her career, Ginsburg granted a number of interviews to NPR. Explore some of her recent, more memorable remarks.
On retiring:
The octogenarian served 27 years on the bench over four presidencies, five bouts with cancer, and countless opinions on groundbreaking legal decisions.
In 2016, amid a heated election between Democrat Hillary Clinton, and eventual White House winner, Donald Trump, Ginsburg said she had no plans on retiring until she could no longer "do the job full-steam."
Listen here.
On health:
In 2019, while battling pancreatic cancer, Ginsburg sat with NPR's Nina Totenberg to discuss her health.
"My first two cancer bouts ... Marty [her husband] stayed with me-- stayed with me in the hospital, sleeping on an uncomfortable couch, despite his bad back. And I knew that someone was there who really cared about me and would make sure that things didn't go wrong," she said at the time.
Ginsburg's husband, Martin "Marty" Ginsburg, died of cancer in 2010.
Listen here.
On regret:
Ginsburg, the soft-spoken, outspoken Supreme Court justice, had more than two decades on the court and more than eight-and-a-half decades of life to ponder the nature of regret.
Still, in an interview last year, Ginsburg found herself feeling fortunate and relatively unburdened by longing for moments past.
"I do think that I was born under a very bright star," Ginsburg said then.
"When you think about — the world has changed really in what women are doing. I went to law school when women were less than 3% of lawyers in the country; today, they are 50%. I never had a woman teacher in college or in law school. The changes have been enormous. And they've just — they've gone much too far [to be] going back."
Read more here.
On love:
Reading a letter from her late husband, Ginsburg gave listeners a glimpse into the couple's love story that spanned more than half a century.
"I found this letter in the drawer next to Marty's bed in the hospital. And it reads: 'My dearest Ruth, you are the only person I have loved in my life, setting aside a bit parents, and kids, and their kids. And I have admired and loved you almost since the day we first met at Cornell some 56 years ago.'"
Listen to Ginsburg read the letter in her own voice here.
"On the Basis of Sex":
Towards the end of her life, Ginsburg, known affectionately by fans as RBG, grew into a pop culture icon and fascination around her life spawned the biographical film On the Basis of Sex, starring Felicity Jones.
The 2018 film follows Ginsburg's time as a young professor focusing on sex discrimination law.
Listen to more about the film here.
President Trump reacts to the news of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death on Friday at Bemidji Regional Airport in Minnesota. He told reporters on the tarmac after his rally that he learned the news from them. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Updated at 10:56 p.m. ET
President Trump called Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg a "titan of the law" in a statement late Friday night on her death.
"Renowned for her brilliant mind and her powerful dissents at the Supreme Court, Justice Ginsburg demonstrated that one can disagree without being disagreeable toward one's colleagues or different points of view," the statement said.
Statement from the President on the Passing of Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg pic.twitter.com/N2YkGVWLoF
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2020
The White House has also lowered its flag to half-staff.
The news of Ginsburg's death broke about 10 minutes after Trump launched into a campaign speech before a large crowd at an airport hangar in Bemidji, Minn.
Trump continued on, for more than an hour, before returning to Air Force One, where reporters were waiting. As Elton John's Tiny Dancer played from the nearby stage, a reporter broke the news.
"She just died?" Trump said. "I didn't know that, you're telling me now for the first time," he told a reporter.
"She led an amazing life, what else can you say? She was an amazing woman — whether you agreed or not — she was an amazing woman who led an amazing life," he said.
"I am sad to hear that," he said before boarding the plane to return to Washington, D.C.
The flag is at half-staff here at the White House in honor of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a trailblazer for women. pic.twitter.com/AFiMSoKfXI
— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) September 19, 2020
Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks to reporters about the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg upon arrival at New Castle County Airport in Delaware. Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Updated at 12:15 a.m. ET
The Senate shouldn't take up the vacancy on the Supreme Court opened by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg until after voters have expressed their choice in the election, former Vice President Joe Biden said Friday.
The Democratic presidential hopeful kept in lockstep with his colleagues now in the Senate minority, who wasted little time after the announcement of Ginsburg's death in stating their belief that Washington must wait.
Republicans do not agree.
Biden reflected Friday about his own long career in the Senate: "It's hard to believe it was my honor to preside over her confirmation hearing," he said.
Democrats want to mirror back the political position taken in 2016 by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who responded to that year's vacancy on the high court by declaring that he would not take up the matter of a replacement until after the presidential election.
History records that Donald Trump was elected and sent McConnell his nominee in place of the one chosen by former President Barack Obama. The Senate then confirmed Neil Gorsuch, the first of Trump's choices.
McConnell said on Friday that he considers the situation this year different from the one in 2016 and that the Senate would consider Trump's third nominee comparatively soon. It isn't clear whether that might take place before Election Day or Inauguration Day, but the stage in Washington is set for an incendiary political war.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas — whom Trump had mused about potentially being a nominee himself to the Supreme Court — said on TV Friday that he believed Trump should identify his nominee as soon as next week.
Obama echoed Biden's position a bit more forcefully in a post, writing:
When Republicans refused to hold a hearing or an up-or-down vote on Merrick Garland, they invented the principle that the Senate shouldn't fill an open seat on the Supreme Court before a new president was sworn in.
A basic principle of the law — and of everyday fairness — is that we apply rules with consistency, and not based on what's convenient or advantageous in the moment.
President Donald Trump announced his list of potential Supreme Court nominees in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House on September 9, 2020. Pool/Getty Images
President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., already had remade the federal judiciary before the hinge of fate swung again on Friday night.
The Republican-controlled Senate has confirmed no fewer than 200 federal judges, many of them young, and each to a lifelong term, as NPR's Carrie Johnson has reported.
Two of those jurists included Supreme Court justices — Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — and the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg now means that Trump can nominate a third. McConnell said on Friday night he intends to convene a vote on that nominee in the Senate, potentially before Election Day or Inauguration Day in January.
Conservative legal activists couldn't be happier about McConnell's project, which not only stocks lower-level federal courts with judges they believe will interpret the law in a way they support, but also creates a vast pool from which Trump now could select for a Supreme Court nominee.
"Filling all of these circuit seats is an unmitigated success, no downside to that," Carrie Severino, who leads the Judicial Crisis Network, told NPR's Johnson.
Here's a breakdown from last summer about the judges Trump has nominated and McConnell has led to confirmation in the Senate.
The corps of judges now in place means conservatives hope for a body of rulings that match their perspectives on key issues, including on reproductive rights, environmental issues, voting cases and more. Plus the comparatively young age of the population of judges — some in their 30s and 40s — mean they'll be on the bench for decades.
Democrats accuse McConnell of a cynical scheme: he blocked judicial nominees under President Obama to create a surplus of vacancies, which he then was able to fill with the arrival of a Republican president.
Other critics also noted to NPR's Johnson how mostly male and mostly white were the judges of the Trump-McConnell era.
Vanita Gupta, who runs the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said this of the cadre: "It is an astonishing lack of representation."
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