US President Donald Trump has chosen Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a member of the Supreme Court, major US media outlets reported, citing well-informed Republican sources.
"We're going to pick an amazing person!" Trump said at a campaign rally in Newport News in Virginia on Friday evening. Without giving more details about his choice.
He added to an enthusiastic audience, "Tomorrow (Saturday) will be a great day!" This sparked warm applause from the audience less than 40 days before the presidential elections.
Trump will officially announce his choice on Saturday at 17:00 (2100 GMT) from the White House, as he intends to select Judge Amy Kunene Barrett, who is known for her traditional religious convictions.
She will replace the progressive judge Geisenberg, the symbol of women's rights advocacy, who died last week of cancer.
Trump quickly embarked on the vacancy process in order to cement the long-term Supreme Court in a conservative approach as its judges are appointed for life.
The Democrats oppose this, stressing the need to wait for the presidential elections to avoid the conservatives' domination of this institution that decides on major issues of concern to society, such as abortion and the right to possess weapons.
In the event that Trump's choice is proven in the Republican Senate, the presence of liberals in this institution will be limited to three judges out of nine.
Asked earlier on Friday if Coney Barry was his candidate, Trump assured, "I didn't say that, but she's brilliant." But he added that his decision was made "in his mind."
Democratic opposition
The choice of Coney Barrett, a low-key 48-year-old Catholic, mother of seven and opposition to abortion could secure the votes of conservative, religious voters that Trump relied on so much for his election four years ago.
However, the Republican sources reported by the American media do not exclude the possibility that "the president will change his decision at the last moment."
However, the "New York Times" newspaper indicated, "According to the available information, no talks were held with any other candidates."
The second candidate is Barbara Lagua, who was born 52 years ago in Florida to a family that fled Fidel Castro's communist regime in Cuba. And it would have been a trump card for Donald Trump in this southeastern state, whose voters might contribute to determining the election result.
Trump had said of him that she was "an amazing woman of Latin American origin," but indicated Friday evening that he had not met her in person.
Despite the strong democratic opposition, the Senate intends to vote on this appointment before the presidential elections scheduled for the third of next November.
In a sign of the current political tension, boos rose when Trump came to take a last look at Ruth Bader Ginsburg's remains at the entrance to the Supreme Court.
A week after her death, a formal farewell ceremony was held for the 87-year-old judge at the Capitol in the presence of Democratic candidate Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris.
Biden, who was Vice President under Barack Obama, tweeted, "Judge Ginsburg printed history today for the last time."
She is the first woman to receive the honor of this official ceremony on the Capitol.
Ginsburg will be buried next week in a family ceremony at Arlington Cemetery, near Washington.
And her coffin draped in the American flag left the Capitol building, amidst a raft of honor, made up of mostly Republican and Democratic women.
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