In A Tribute To Justice Ginsburg, Obama Calls On Senate Delay Naming A Successor

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President Barack Obama greets Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg prior to his State of the Union address on Jan. 24, 2012, at the Capitol in Washington. Ginsburg died on Sep 18, 2020 at 87.

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«Four and a half years ago, when Republicans refused to hold a hearing or an up-or-down vote on Merrick Garland, they invented the principle that the Senate shouldn’t fill an open seat on the Supreme Court before a new president was sworn in,» he said. «As votes are already being cast in this election, Republican Senators are now called to apply that standard,» Obama added.

The former president also referenced Ginsburg’s «instructions for how she wanted her legacy to be honored.» Before her death, she told her grandaughter, Clara Spera, that her «most fervent wish» was that she would not be replaced «until a new president is installed.