WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump said Monday he expects to announce his pick for the Supreme Court by week's end, launching a Senate confirmation fight over objections from Democrats who say it's too close to the November election.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87, died Friday of metastatic pancreatic cancer. Her casket is to be on view mid-week on the steps outside the court and later privately at the Capitol. She is to be buried next week in a private service at Arlington National Cemetery.
Trump said he is planning to name his pick by Friday or Saturday, ahead of the first presidential election debate.
Conversations in the White House and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office are increasingly focused on two finalists for the court seat: Amy Coney Barrett, who was at the White House on Monday, and Barbara Lagoa, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss the private deliberations.
Trump himself confirmed they were among the top contenders.
Barrett has long been a favorite of conservatives and was a strong contender for the seat that eventually went in 2018 to Brett Kavanaugh. At the time, Trump told confidants he was "saving" Barrett for Ginsburg's seat.
Democrats, led by presidential nominee Joe Biden, are protesting the Republicans' rush to replace Ginsburg, saying voters should speak first, on Election Day, Nov. 3, and the winner of the White House should fill the vacancy.
Trump dismissed those arguments, telling "Fox & Friends," "I think that would be good for the Republican Party, and I think it would be good for everybody to get it over with."
The mounting clash over the vacant seat - when to fill it and with whom - injects new turbulence in the presidential campaign as the nation reels from the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 200,000 people, left millions unemployed, and heightened partisan tensions and anger.
Democrats point to hypocrisy in Republicans trying to rush through a pick so close to the election after refusing to vote on a nominee of President Barack Obama in February 2016, long before that year's election. Biden is appealing to GOP senators to "uphold your constitutional duty, your conscience" and wait until after the election.
McConnell vowed Monday to have a vote "this year" on Trump's nominee. With just more than a month before the election, he said the Senate has "more than sufficient time."
Announcing a nominee Friday or Saturday would leave less than 40 days for the Senate to hold a confirmation vote before the election. No nominee has won confirmation that quickly since Sandra Day O'Connor - with no opposition from either party - became the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court in 1981.
Trump said Monday he had five finalists, "probably four" - all women - and had started speaking to them over the past two days. He said his preference was for someone younger who could hold her seat for decades.
Trump admitted politics may play a role. Late Monday, he gave a nod to another battleground state, Michigan, and White House officials confirmed he was referring to Joan Larsen, a federal appeals court judge there.
The president also indicated Allison Jones Rushing, a 38-year-old appellate judge from North Carolina, is on his short list. His team is also actively considering Kate Todd, the White House deputy counsel who has never been a judge but was a clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas.
As the Senate returned to Washington on Monday, attention focused on Republicans Mitt Romney, of Utah, and Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, for clues to whether Trump and McConnell will be able to confirm Ginsburg's replacement quickly.
Four Republicans could halt a quick confirmation and Trump criticized Republican Sens. Susan Collins, of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, for opposing a vote before elections. The president warned they would be "very badly hurt" by voters.
Republicans hold a 53-47 edge in the Senate. If there were a 50-50 tie, it could be broken by Vice President Mike Pence.