President Donald Trump said Monday he expects to announce his pick for the Supreme Court on Friday or Saturday, after funeral services for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and just days before the first presidential election debate.
Trump told “Fox & Friends” that he had a list of five finalists, “probably four,” and that he is pushing for a confirmation vote before Election Day. Democrats have howled in protest, pointing to the hypocrisy of Republicans for rushing through a pick so close to the election after refusing to do so for President Barack Obama in 2016.
The impending clash over the vacant seat — when to fill it and with whom — has scrambled the stretch run of a presidential race for a nation already reeling from the pandemic that has killed nearly 200,000 people, left millions unemployed and heightened partisan tensions and anger.
Democratic nominee Joe Biden has urged a delay in a nomination, declaring that the next president should fill the seat.
Ginsburg, 87, died Friday of metastatic pancreatic cancer.
The United Nations officially marked its 75th anniversary Monday with an appeal from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to preserve the longest period in modern history without a military confrontation between the world’s most powerful nations.
The U.N. chief told the mainly virtual commemoration that “it took two world wars, millions of deaths and the horrors of the Holocaust for world leaders to commit to international cooperation and the rule of law,” and that commitment produced results.
“A Third World War — which so many had feared — has been avoided,” Guterres said. “This is a major achievement of which member states can be proud — and which we must all strive to preserve.”
His appeal came at an inflection point in history, as the United Nations navigates a polarized world facing a pandemic, regional conflicts, a shrinking economy and growing inequality.
Looking back over the past 75 years, Guterres cited other major U.N. achievements: peace treaties and the U.N.’s far-flung peacekeeping missions, decolonization, setting human rights standards, “the triumph over apartheid” in South Africa, eradication of diseases, a steady reduction in hunger, development of international law and landmark pacts to protect the environment and planet Earth.
St. Thomas dining locations Scooter’s, Beaker’s Coffee Shop and Stacks Café are closing for the remainder of the semester after Friday, a Dining Services message posted on OneStThomas said.
The three locations are closing due to low revenue, the venues’ employees said.
Emily Haugen can be reached at haug7231@stthomas.edu