The Christian Science Monitor

Replacing RBG: In looming Senate battle, both sides race to the brink

The battle to fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the U.S. Supreme Court is shaping up to be a defining moment in politics – a titanic struggle that could shift a presidential election and produce enormous policy consequences, while straining the limits of American constitutional democracy.

Much depends on how the Senate’s “advise and consent” confirmation process plays out. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, by vowing to proceed only weeks before Election Day, has enraged many Democrats, who see the move as blatantly hypocritical given that Senator McConnell refused to even allow a hearing for President Barack Obama’s nominee to an open high court seat in 2016.

In response, some Democratic lawmakers are threatening, should their party win control of the Senate and the White House, to add seats to the Supreme Court or push for statehood for Puerto

Final weeks of 2020 campaign, upendedNew Democratic interest in the court?Bruising nomination fights now the norm

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