Trump Says His SCOTUS Pick Will ‘Most Likely’ Be a Woman, Wants to ‘Fill That Seat’ Before Election

Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images President Donald Trump

President Donald Trump has signaled that he will name a woman to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat.

While speaking at a campaign rally in North Carolina on Saturday, Trump said that he “will put forward a nominee next week” and that his choice “will be a woman,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

“It will be a woman, a very talented, a very brilliant woman,” he added, going on to note that he hasn’t made a final decision about who to nominate yet.

During a Saturday night rally, the president also spoke about the likelihood of naming a woman to fill the empty seat. “I could see most likely it would be a woman,” he said. “If somebody were to ask me now, I would say that a woman would be in first place.”

"I actually like women much more than I like men. I have to say,” he added.

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During the rally, Trump’s supporters also began chanting “Fill that Seat!” — signaling their support of the president’s desire for a speedy appointment process.

"This is a new one: FILL THAT SEAT," Trump said, later adding, “"Let's make a t-shirt. Fill the seat. That's a good idea. That's what we are going to do. We're going to fill that seat.”

Before leaving for North Carolina that day, Trump also told reporters that he believed he would be announcing his nominee in the coming days. “I think the choice will be next week,” he said.

getty images (2) President Donald Trump and late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Shortly before her death on Friday, Ginsburg told her granddaughter that she did not want her vacancy filled until a new president has taken office. "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed," Ginsburg said, according to NPR.

However, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, who previously blocked Barack Obama’s nominee, has vowed that the Senate will vote on Trump’s chosen replacement. “President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate,” McConnell said in a statement issued just hours after Ginsburg's death.

Though McConnell has promised the vote will happen, the Associated Press noted that past Supreme Court nominations have taken around 70 days to move through the Senate. As of Sunday, the election is 44 days away.

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Although Trump has yet to announce his nomination, he has about 40 potential nominees to choose from, having updated his list with 20 new names a week prior to Ginsburg’s death. A number of the new names added to the list are women.

Before updating the list, The New York Times reported that Trump had singled out three judges who are believed to be the front-runners for the nomination, one of whom is a woman: Amy Coney Barrett, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago.

Barrett, 48, who has expressed anti-abortion views in the past, previously served as a clerk for late Justice Antonin Scalia and was nominated by Trump to serve on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017. Her nomination was supported by every GOP senator, according to The Hill.