Tensions within the Senate have risen after the passing of supreme court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Sept. 18.  

Just hours after the passing of Justice Ginsburg, talks of her replacement, who would be nominated by President Donald Trump, was up in the air. Democrats in the Senate oppose this nomination as it is six weeks before the 2020 presidential election.  

“Voting has started in a number of states and I really do believe that we should not be considering any nomination,” Democratic Senator Cory Booker said in an interview with NPR. “We’re 45 days before election day… will those republican Senators honor their word, and not cooperate with this push to get someone to floor and voted on?” 

The root of Senator Booker’s issue with the supreme court justice nomination stems from the words of Mitch McConnell, Republican Senate majority leader, back in 2016. After the passing of supreme court Justice Antonin Scalia in the spring of 2016, former President Barack Obama named Merrick Garland to fill the seat. The Republican senate blocked this nomination and left the filling of the seat to the winner of the 2016 presidential election. 

“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice,” McConnell said at a hearing in 2016. “Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”  

Although the Republicans hold the majority in the Senate, four Republican Senators may swing the vote for Trump’s nomination. Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney, and Charles E. Grassley are being watched closely as defectors in the vote.  

“In fairness to the American people, who will either be re-electing the president or selecting a new one, the decision on a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court should be made by the president who is elected on Nov. 3,” Collins said in a statement on Saturday, Sept. 19.