WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will announce next week his nominee to fill a vacant seat on the US Supreme Court -- a crucial decision that could shift the court's balance on major issues such as abortion.
"We'll pick a truly great Supreme Court justice and I'll be announcing it sometime next week," Trump said in the Oval Office.
One of the court's nine seats has been open since justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016.
In the interim, Senate Republicans refused to give President Barack Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, even a confirmation hearing, much less put the nomination to a vote.
So the court has been divided evenly between progressives and conservatives.
Trump said recently he had a list of 20 candidates for the empty seat.
He invited the four congressional leaders -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer, Ryan and leading House Democrat Nancy Pelosi -- to the White House later Tuesday to discuss filling the vacancy on the US high court.
The Supreme Court has the final say on interpreting federal constitutional law. It takes on cases addressing important issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage and gun rights.
Nominees put forward by the president must be confirmed by the Senate for these lifetime positions.
Supreme Court nominees require a 60-vote majority for confirmation in the 100-seat Senate. Republicans hold 52 seats, so any nominee would need support from at least eight Democrats.
After winning the US election on November 8, Trump said he would name justices who are against abortion and staunch defenders of Americans' right to own guns as enshrined in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution.
"I'm pro-life," he told CBS. "The judges will be pro-life."
Trump said his nominees would be "very pro-Second Amendment."
Trump may have other opportunities to nominate justices. Two of the current justices are in their 80s -- Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anthony Kennedy. Stephen Breyer will turn 80 next year.
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