Trump seeks 9th judge soon as election could be settled in Supreme Court: 'Having 4-4 isn't good situation'
President Donald Trump on Wednesday, September 23, said the Supreme Court needed to have its full bench of nine judges because they have a say in deciding the winner of the November presidential election. The number of judges in the apex court have become eight after the iconic Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away last week at the age of 87 after a prolonged battle against cancer.
A big political fight has intensified over her replacement after Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell gave indications of making a quick move over her succession. The Democrats and other critics of Trump have said that it was not consistent with what the GOP did following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia months ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Scalia’s replacement was appointed only in 2017 as the Republican-controlled Senate felt a new president should pick the judge and Merrick Garland, the preference of then president Barack Obama did not even get a hearing. Trump came up with his viewpoint over finding RBG’s successor soon because he fears the presidential election could eventually be settled in the apex court, thanks to the mail-in balloting system. It is being promoted as a safer alternative to physical voting because of the coronavirus pandemic which has already claimed more than 200,000 lives but the president feels it will only lead to widespread electoral malpractice.
Trump doesn't want 4-4 situation in Supreme Court
“I think it’s better if you go before the election because I think the scam the Democrats are pulling, this scam will be before the United States Supreme Court,” the GOP leader said at the White House. He added that in case the Supreme Court finds itself divided as 4-4, it would not be an ideal situation and then the ruling of the lower court should prevail.
“I think having a 4-4 situation is not a good situation. Just in case it would be more political than it should be I think it's very important to have a 9th judge,” Trump said. Biden, who was critical of the Senate’s stand during the post-Scala situation, said if the body went ahead with Ginsburg’s successor now, it would be an constitutional abuse of power and injustice to several millions of voters.
States already seeing battle over mail-in voting
The GOP has come up with several lawsuits against states that have expanded the mail-in ballot options and sent ballots to all registered voters ahead of the Election Day. In some courts, the ruling has also come. In Pennsylvania, a key state for Trump to get his second term, the verdict went in favor of the Democrats when the state supre court upheld a new state norm that expanded the deadline for counting of the mail-in votes. The deadline for receiving the absentee ballots has been pushed to November 6 or three days after the Election Day given they are postmarked by 8 pm on November 3. It also held that the election code allowed drop boxes for submitting the mail-in votes.
The Republican Party has planned to move the Supreme Court to appeal against the ruling.
Similarly, in Michigan — another state that Trump aims to win this fall — a Court of Claims ruled that the state’s clerks must accept late ballots as long as they are postmarked no later than November 2 and received before the deadline for certifying the results of the polls, or two weeks after the election is held. In Texas, too, legal complications were being witnessed after an intermediate state appeals court sided with Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins last week in his request to mail applications for absentee ballots in the presidential poll to every registered voter in the county. Hollins, however, found a less favorable state supreme court in the Republican-dominated state.
Trump has planned to name his nominee to the Supreme Court at 5 pm on Saturday, September 26. He has given indication that it would be a woman and conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett is favorite to bag the plum post. If the nominee is confirmed, it will be the third time that Trump would make a Supreme Court appointment in his first term — after Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.