“I will not support the appointment of a judge to the Supreme Court so close to the elections,” said the senator elected by Alaska, in a statement sent to the agency France-Presse (AFP).
Lisa Murkowski considered that “unfortunately” the appointment of a new judge to the Supreme Court, a scenario “that was only hypothetical”, became “reality” with the death of Judge Ruth Baber Ginsburg, announced on Friday.
“But my position has not changed,” said the Republican.
Lisa Murkowski is the second voice within the Republican faction of the Senate against this intention, after Susan Collins said she is also opposed to a vote before the presidential ones.
However, the leader of the Republican majority in the upper house of the US Congress, Mitch McConnell, said on Friday that he intended to organize the vote, although he refused in 2016 to hear a judge chosen by then President, Democrat Barack Obama, claiming that the presidential elections, scheduled for this year and which Trump won, were only eight months away.
The appointment of a new judge to the Supreme Court of the United States of America (USA) is one of the intentions of the head of state, Republican Trump, who seeks re-election and the appointment of a new magistrate as soon as possible to, in this way , anchor this instance to conservatism.
Trump’s choice has to be approved by the U.S. Senate, the majority of which belongs to Republicans with 53 of the 100 members of this chamber.
In the note sent to AFP Murkowski recalls that he supported this decision four years ago: “Today we are even closer to the election, less than two months, and I think the same rule should be applied.”
The senator, one of the few Republican voices to support women’s right to abortion, had already abstained in 2018 during the confirmation vote of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, chosen by Trump to join the U.S. Supreme Court.
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