Courts

Donald Trump Already Has Plans For Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Supreme Court Seat

Trump seems desperate to replace RBG.

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(Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Ugh, first of all, let’s start this story by chilling the F out: Ruth Bader Ginsburg is fine. Yes, she’s recently battled cancer, but she’s back on the bench and writing opinions and has no plans on slowing down — no matter what the right may wish.

But that doesn’t mean Donald Trump hasn’t been using his copious, unstructured “executive time” fantasizing about replacing the liberal lion on the Supreme Court. Hell, he’s already predicted that both RBG and Sonia Sotomayor will die while he’s in office. According to a report from Axios, Trump has already decided who he’ll pick should he have the opportunity to fill Justice Ginsburg’s seat. He’s apparently determined the nod should go to the Seventh Circuit’s Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the recently appointed judge who conservative legal pundits believe will pen the final overrule of Roe should she have the opportunity.

“I’m saving her for Ginsburg,” Trump said of Barrett, according to three sources familiar with the president’s private comments. Trump used that exact line with a number of people, including in a private conversation with an adviser two days before announcing Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination.

The decision to replace a prominent woman on the Court with another — very different — woman is a calculated one. That Judge Coney Barrett (should she make it onto the Supreme Court) will almost certainly be the one to roll back women’s reproductive freedoms is a boon designed to “own the libs” in the minds of rightwing pundits.

We can only hope that RBG is able to hold out for a few more years, and that Dems get their ish in order for the 2020 election.

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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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