President Donald Trump believes the 2020 election “will end up before the Supreme Court” and that he feels it’s best to have nine justices sitting on the Court before the election.
During a roundtable on Wednesday, Trump was asked repeatedly about the Supreme Court, which has eight justices after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Trump told reporters, “I think this will end up in the Supreme Court and I think it’s very important that we have nine justices.”
He added, “I think the system’s going to go very quickly.”
The president said that he will be announcing his nomination for the seat on Saturday afternoon. He told reporters, “We have a lot of time. You have before the election and then you have after the election too. But in terms of time, we go to January 20th.”
Trump also attacked Democrats saying, “I think it’s better if you go before the election because this scam that the Democrats are pulling — it’s a scam — this scam will be before the United States Supreme Court and I think having a 4-4 situation is not a good situation if you get that.”
He added, “I think it’s very important to have a ninth justice.”
.@POTUS: "I think this will end up in the Supreme Court. & I think it's very important that we have 9 Justices. & I think the system is going to go very quickly. I'll be submitting at 5 o'clock on Saturday, the name of the person I chose for this most important of positions." pic.twitter.com/v1veiqU2Mm
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 23, 2020
President Trump seems assured to be able to easily push his Supreme Court justice through the Senate. Without the votes to block his nominee, Democrats will be powerless to stop him.
On Tuesday, Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who has been willing to break with the president previously said that he will support a vote on Trump’s nominee.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said this week that Senate Republicans have the votes necessary to hold put Trump’s nominee on the Supreme Court before the election.
Meanwhile, Democratic nominee Joe Biden has said that if he wins the November election, he believes that Trump’s nominee should be withdrawn.