President Donald Trump is about to announce his nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States.
Trump will be unveiling his pick at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The announcement can be viewed live in the embedded YouTube player via The White House.
This Supreme Court nominee is the person to replace Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016. This left a vacancy on the court that President Barack Obama hoped to fill with Merick Garland, but Republicans refused to hold a hearing on Garland, saying that the Supreme Court nomination should be delayed until after Election Day. Due to the result of the November election, a Republican, not a Democrat, will now fill that seat.
Trump released a list of possible Supreme Court nominees during his campaign, and he has said that the person he selected is from that list. The list has reportedly been narrowed down to three: Neil Gorsuch, Thomas Hardiman, and William Pryor.
During the election, Trump promised that his nominee for the Supreme Court would possess certain ideologies; for instance, Trump said that the candidate must be pro-life, adding that he believes Roe v. Wade will be overturned.
“[B]ecause I am pro-life, and I will be appointing pro-life judges, I would think that that will go back to the individual states,” Trump said during a presidential debate. “If we put another two or perhaps three justice on, that’s really what’s going to be. That’ll happen automatically, in my opinion, because I am putting pro-life justices on the court. I will say this: It will go back to the states, and the states will then make a determination.”
Senator Jeff Merkley said this week that he and his fellow Democrats will filibusterer the nomination of anyone Donald Trump selects. He says he will do this because he believes the seat belongs to Merick Garland.
“This is a stolen seat,” Merkley told Politico. “This is the first time a Senate majority has stolen a seat. We will use every lever in our power to stop this.”
If Democrats filibuster, Trump’s nominee will require 60 votes to be approved.