CHICAGO (AP) — A front-runner to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a federal appellate judge who lives in South Bend who has established herself as a reliable conservative on hot-button legal issues from abortion to gun control. Amy Coney Barrett is hailed by religious conservatives and others on the right as an ideological heir to the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. She is a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School and taught there before being appointed as a judge to the 7th Circuit. Liberals say Barrett’s legal views are too influenced by her Catholic beliefs and fear she could seek to scale back abortion rights.
President Donald Trump says he expects to announce his pick for the Supreme Court on Friday or Saturday, after funeral services for Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He told "Fox & Friends" on Monday that he had a list of five finalists, "probably four," and that he is pushing for a confirmation vote before Election Day. Trump disparaged reports that Ginsburg had told her granddaughter it was her wish that a replacement justice not be confirmed until the inauguration of a new president. Trump said he thought his Democratic political foes were behind the report, including Rep. Adam Schiff, who led the House impeachment probe, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.