Ruth Bader Ginsburg Dead At 87

The Supreme Court announced that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died of metastatic pancreatic cancer, setting up a fight over filling a Supreme Court seat with less than 50 days until the election. “Our nation has lost a jurist of historic stature,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement. “Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her — a tireless and resolute champion of justice.”

Ginsburg was appointed in 1993 by Clinton and was only the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court. Ginsburg had overcome four bouts with pancreatic, lung, and colon cancer since 1999. Following a recurrence in July, Ginsburg vowed to stay on the court “as long as I can do the job full steam.”

The vacancy, however, gives Trump the opportunity to name her successor, and Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans have promised to try to fill the vacancy. In 2016, Senate Republicans refused to consider Judge Merrick Garland, saying that holding hearings in the last year of a president’s term would deprive voters of a chance to weigh in on what kind of justice they wanted.

Early voting, meanwhile, has already begun in Virginia, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Minnesota.

According to a former Trump White House official, McConnell, who has called the obstruction of Garland “the most important decision I’ve made in my political career,” told donors earlier this year “that when R.B.G. meets her reward, even if it’s October, we’re getting our judge. He’s saying it’s our October Surprise.” Following news of Ginsburg’s death, McConnell released a statement announcing that “Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.”

Senator Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and – in 2018 when he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee – Chuck Grassley, however, have previously announced that they were opposed to confirming a new Supreme Court justice in 2020. “Fair is fair,” Murkowski said. Mitt Romney is also reportedly committed to not confirming a Supreme Court nominee until after Inauguration Day 2021.

Meanwhile in Minnesota, Trump – apparently unaware of Ginsburg’s death – launched into a series of sexist attacks on Hillary Clinton and stoked fears of Islamic terrorism that would occur if Biden were elected.

Ginsburg, who once called then-presidential candidate Trump a “faker” and more recently described this period of American history as “an aberration,” dictated the following statement days before her death: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”

Sources: NPR / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Politico / Vox / Axios / Los Angeles Times / Wall Street Journal / USA Today / Washington Post / Bloomberg