US President Donald Trump will be able to nominate a new Supreme Court Justice. He will get enough Republicans on his side for that because Mitt Romney has also indicated that he will give his support.
This means that a majority of 51 seats in 100 has been reached in the Senate.
Following the death of Chief Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was one of the nine justices of the US Supreme Court for nearly 30 years, a successor must be nominated. That is up to the incumbent president, after which the Senate must approve the candidacy.
But the Democrats believe it is impossible to appoint a new Supreme Court judge in an election year, incredibly not so shortly before the November election. They had hoped to get some moderate Republicans on their side.
Republicans hold a majority of 53 seats in the Senate. So far it looks like two Republican senators will vote against. The Democrats had hoped Mitt Romney would be the third vote against.
Romney, who lost the 2012 presidential election to Barack Obama, was the only Republican to vote for Trump’s impeachment in the impeachment process early this year.
But Romney will not go against Trump this time. Today he indicated that he has to follow the law. “If the candidate is presented, I will check whether it is suitable,” he said.
According to Romney, while there are precedents about election-year nominations, they do not apply when the president and the majority in the Senate belong to the same party.
Trump has already announced that he will propose a candidate to succeed Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Saturday. She was known for her liberal, progressive views. Trump can now again seize the opportunity to appoint a conservative judge.