Remembering Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said today that the country should honor Ruth Bader Ginsburg's wishes and not fill her Supreme Court seat until after the presidential election and inauguration.

Here's what the former vice president said while speaking from Philadelphia this afternoon:

Some context: Ginsburg told her granddaughter she wanted her replacement to be appointed by the next president, NPR reported.

"My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed," she dictated to granddaughter, Clara Spera, days before her death.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden called the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg a "heroine, an icon and a mother" today during remarks made at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia today.

Here is a list of the Republican senators that CNN is watching and where they stand on filling the vacant Supreme Court seat during an election year. 

Remember: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said there will be a vote on President Trump’s nominee.

There are currently 53 GOP senators — meaning McConnell can only lose three Republicans before Vice President Mike Pence could cast a tie-breaking vote. Should two more Republican senators say they oppose movement on Trump's forthcoming nominee, Democrats will have enough support to punt the nomination to the lame-duck session of Congress. 

Sen. Susan Collins

Collins, who is facing a tough re-election battle in Maine, issued a statement Saturday saying that voting on a nominee to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Supreme Court seat should wait until after the election. But, her office has not responded to CNN’s questions about whether she would vote against a Trump nominee either before the election or in the lame-duck session.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski

Murkowski, of Alaska, issued a statement Sunday saying she opposes taking up a Supreme Court nomination prior to Election Day.

However, she did not address whether she would oppose a Trump nominee in a lame duck session if Joe Biden wins. Murkowski’s office would not comment to CNN on this question on Sunday. 

Sen. Cory Gardner

Gardner, facing a tough re-election in Colorado, did not answer Saturday whether he would stand by his 2016 words that the “next President ought to choose" the Supreme Court nominee.

At a local town hall, Gardner responded without referring to his 2016 statement, and focused on Ginsburg's death.

Sen. Lamar Alexander

Alexander, of Tennessee, who is set to retire this year, has yet to comment whether he would support the Supreme Court vacancy being filled before the presidential election. 

Sen. Chuck Grassley

Grassley, of Iowa, is a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is in charge of the process for filling a Supreme Court vacancy. 

In July, Grassley told CNN that he could not answer the question as he is no longer chairman.

"[M]y position is if I were chairman of the committee, I couldn't move forward with it but you'd have to ask Graham what he's going to do. I can't answer that question," he said.

On Sunday, Grassley’s office had no comment if that’s still his position.

Sen. Mitt Romney

Romney, of Utah, has, at times, been at odds with the President Trump and was the lone Republican to vote to remove him from office. He has yet to comment on the process of filling the Supreme Court vacancy.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, says she opposes taking up the nomination to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before election day.

More context: This means there are two Republicans who have voiced their position, Murkowski and Maine Sen. Susan Collins. If there are two more Republicans who oppose that, it would be enough to punt the process to the lame-duck session of Congress after the election.

It took two artists one day to paint a mural of Ruth Bader Ginsburg near Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, DC, on Saturday. 

The mural was painted by Shawn Perkins (@sptheplug) and David Zambrano (@dezcustomz).

See more photos of the mural:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the Supreme Court this morning to lay flowers and pay her respects to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

More from Pelosi: She said Sunday morning that she would not leverage a government shutdown in order to slow down the filling of Ginsburg’s Supreme Court vacancy.

“None of us has any interest in shutting down government, that has such a harmful and shameful impact on so many people in our country,” Pelosi told ABC.

When asked if there was any way the Democrats could slow down the Senate Republicans, Pelosi responded, “everyone to get out there and vote.”

Former President Bill Clinton characterized President Trump's maneuvers to name a new Supreme Court justice before the election as "a power play."

Some context: Trump, who had been facing a potentially historic deficit with women voters in part because of their disapproval of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, addressed Ginsburg's death moments after he stepped on stage at his campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Saturday night, calling her "a legal giant" whose "landmark rulings, fierce devotion to justice, and her courageous battle against cancer inspire all Americans."

As the crowd began chanting "Fill That Seat!" Trump said he had not made a final choice but was inclined to choose a woman — and then, with a theatrical flourish and no hint of irony, took a snap poll of the crowd to gauge whether they preferred a man or a woman to fill the seat of a justice who was an equal rights icon.

Former President Bill Clinton recalled his conversation with Ruth Bader Ginsburg when he interviewed her prior to nominating her to the Supreme Court in 1993. He said she was "disarmingly straightforward." 

Clinton continued: "I was very, very determined that whoever I put on the court would be on the level and would see the people first and understand the human impact. And she really did. She had this uncanny ability to be very much in the weeds, if you will, of the intellectual legal arguments and yet never lose sight of the human impact of her decisions."

Former President Bill Clinton remembered the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who he nominated to the Supreme Court in 1993.

Ginsburg died Friday evening at the age of 87.

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