Trump to name Amy Coney Barrett to US Supreme Court: reports

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump was expected to name Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Saturday, setting in motion a rush by Republicans to cement a conservative majority at the court on the eve of a tense and potentially disputed US election.

Trump made clear on Friday that he sees the "outstanding" 48-year-old law professor as a favorite, but did not confirm multiple US media reports that Barrett is his final choice.

The announcement was due at a 5:00 pm (2100 GMT) ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. A short while later, Trump was to leave for a campaign rally in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania.

That schedule alone illustrated the high-stakes politics behind the nomination, which is the third time Trump has had a chance to fill one of the lifetime appointments on the top court.

If named and confirmed to fill the seat left by the late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Barrett would steer the court to the right for years, expanding the conservative wing's sometimes shaky 5-4 advantage to a solid 6-3.

With the liberals' influence waning, the court would then likely see a replay of some of the biggest judicial disputes in the nation, starting with abortion rights and the already battered Obamacare health care plan.

More immediately -- and even more explosively -- a quick confirmation of Barrett in the Republican-led Senate would tilt the court just as fears are growing that the body may have to arbitrate a post-election dispute in which either Trump or his Democratic opponent Joe Biden has refused to accept the result.

Trump has repeatedly said he may have to challenge results, alleging -- without evidence -- that the Democrats want a "rigged" election. He said this week that the contest is likely to end up in the Supreme Court.

Democrats including Biden demand that Republicans delay replacing Ginsburg, a champion of women's rights, until after the election, when it's known who will be in the White House from next January.

"Considering the fact that this Supreme Court nominee may serve on the court for 30 years, it is nothing short of outrageous that they want to approve her in fewer than 30 days," Senator Dick Durbin, the Democratic whip, told CNN on Saturday.

A majority of Americans -- by 57 to 38 percent -- oppose the push for confirmation before the election, according to a new Washington Post/ABC poll.

But leaders of the Republican majority in the Senate, which is tasked with confirming Supreme Court nominees, said they expect a vote either before the election or, at latest, during the ensuing "lame duck" session before the inauguration of the next president in January.

"We will certainly do that this year," Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell has said.

Barrett was first named to the bench in 2017. A deeply conservative Catholic and mother of seven, she is an opponent of abortion, a core issue for many Republicans.

Liberal groups are even more incensed given that the vacant seat was previously held by a feminist icon.

"We know whoever this president puts forward will be an offense to justice Ginsburg's legacy and her fight to ensure that women are treated fairly," Planned Parenthood president Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement.

"We will fight with everything we have to stop any Supreme Court confirmation before the inauguration," she said.

The American Civil Liberties Union also urged the Senate to postpone until after the election.

For Trump, nominating a conservative justice at this point is a way to fire up his base heading into November's election.

But feelings are running high on both sides.

On Friday, Biden traveled from his home in Delaware to Washington for a solemn ceremony in the US Capitol paying tribute to Ginsburg.

A day earlier, Trump and his wife Melania visited the Supreme Court to pay respects to Ginsburg and found themselves being heckled by a crowd of opponents.