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Trump supporters chant 'fill that seat' in rally as he says 29 presidents have filled SC vacancy in vote year

'That's what we're going to do, we're going to fill that seat,' Trump said, adding that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln had done it

It seems supporters of President Donald Trump have already decided what he should do about the vacancy on the US Supreme Court panel, following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “Fill that seat!” the crowd chanted on Saturday, September 19, at the president's rally in Fayetteville Regional Airport, North Carolina, where he spoke about who he might nominate to succeed late Ginsburg. The liberal firebrand died on September 18 at the age of 87 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

"That's what we're going to do. We're going to fill that seat!" Trump said, before suggesting his supporters should print "Fill that seat!" on t-shirts. Meanwhile, the president also pledged to nominate a woman for the distinguished seat. "I actually like women much more than I like men," he said, before appearing to "poll" the crowd about whether they'd like a man or a woman to hold the position. The response was much louder for a woman nominee, NPR reported.

"It will be a woman, a very talented, very brilliant woman," Trump then announced.

It's important to note that Ginsburg's death has created yet another deadlock between Republicans and Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has stated the Senate will vote on an appointee named by Trump if he names his pick before Election Day. On the other hand, Democrats have railed against filling the vacancy so close to the election.

"Americans re-elected our majority in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 because we pledged to work with President Trump and support his agenda, particularly his outstanding appointments to the federal judiciary," McConnell said in a statement on Friday, September 18. "Once again, we will keep our promise. President Trump's nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate."

In Fayetteville on September 19, Trump defended his constitutional right to put forth a nominee by noting that every president who had an opportunity to appoint a new Justice in an election year had taken it.

"There have been 29 times a vacancy opened during an election year, or prior to an inauguration. 29 times, that's a lot. Every single time, the sitting president made a nomination. That included — you ever hear of George Washington? Did you ever hear of Thomas Jefferson? Or how about the great Abraham Lincoln?" Trump said. "Think of it, 29 times. Every single time, nobody said, 'Oh, let's not fill the seat.' We won the election."

The president, nonetheless, acknowledged there were "some senators" who disagreed, such as Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who said that the winner of the presidential election must get to choose the nominee. "So we win an election, and those are the consequences. It's called 'Fill that seat,' and that's what we're doing. The Supreme Court was a very central issue in both the 2016 presidential election, and the 2018 midterm elections — where, by the way, I didn't run," he continued.

Trump later told reporters that he would reveal his pick this week itself. His Democratic challenger Joe Biden expressed his own view on September 18. “Voters should pick the president and the president should pick the justice to consider," the former vice president said.