Donald Trump has made his choice. Conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett has been appointed to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Supreme Court of the United States, in a climate of extreme divisions, 38 days before the presidential election.
The US president spoke from the White House rose garden with Amy Coney Barrett by his side. "She is a woman of incomparable success, of great intelligence and with exceptional references," said Donald Trump shortly after unveiling her choice.
In fact, the suspense was lifted on Friday evening by the mainstream American media, which reported in unison that it had chosen Amy Coney Barrett, a 48-year-old practicing Catholic opposed to abortion.
The democrat camp wind up
If, as expected, this choice is confirmed and then validated by the Senate dominated by Republicans, Amy Coney Barrett will strengthen the conservative majority within this key institution after the death of the progressive "RBG", a feminist icon swept away last week by a Cancer. "This confirmation (from the Senate) should be quick and simple," said Donald Trump.
"I am sure it will be done without any controversy," he even added jokingly. Barrett was not so optimistic: “I have no illusions that it won't be easy for me, either in the short term or in the long term. "
The president has started the process to firmly anchor the Supreme Court in conservatism, its judges being appointed for life. His presidential opponent Joe Biden and the entire Democratic camp are upset, arguing that it should be up to the winner of November 3 to make such a decisive choice for American society, since the highest court decides on ultra-sensitive issues, such as abortion or the right to bear arms.
Shortly after Barrett's appointment was announced, Biden again called on the Senate not to confirm the Supreme Court judge until next month's election. The subject will undoubtedly be Tuesday night at the heart of the first televised debate of the campaign between Biden, favorite in the polls, and Donald Trump, who partly relies on this sequence to catch up.
Joe Biden on Amy Coney Barrett: "She has a written track record of disagreeing with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Affordable Care Act"
"The Senate should not act on this vacancy until after the American people select their next president and the next Congress"
With Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court will have only three progressive justices out of its nine magistrates. And the former real estate mogul has thus, rarely, appointed three supreme judges in a single term.
The choice of Barrett, mother of seven, law professor and magistrate known for her traditionalist religious beliefs, could galvanize the conservative Christian electorate on which Donald Trump relied heavily in his surprise election four years ago.
Especially since despite a majority of judges already theoretically on the right after two appointments by the former New York businessman, the Supreme Court had inflicted at the beginning of the summer a series of setbacks on the conservative camp, on the 'voluntary termination of pregnancy as on the rights of sexual minorities and young undocumented migrants.
The high court "spits in the faces of people proud to consider themselves Republicans or conservatives", then cursed Donald Trump.
Already favorite in 2018
Amy Coney Barrett - "ACB" as some media nickname her - was already one of the favorites in 2018 for the Supreme Court when the president finally preferred Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
This time, the other lesser-known favorite was Barbara Lagoa. Born in Florida 52 years ago to parents who fled the communist regime of Fidel Castro, she could have been a political asset for Donald Trump in this potentially decisive southern state for the presidential election.
A sign of political tensions, it was under the boos of demonstrators that Donald Trump came to meditate Thursday in front of the remains of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, exposed at the entrance to the Supreme Court.
Just a week after his death, at the age of 87, “RBG” received his last solemn tributes on Friday at the United States Capitol, in the presence of Joe Biden and his running mate for the vice-presidency, Kamala Harris. "Today, Judge Ginsburg made history one last time," tweeted the former US vice president. She will be buried in private next week at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington.