Trump says he has 'obligation' to nominate Supreme Court judge 'without delay'

Donald Trump has suggested he will announce a nomination for the Supreme Court in the wake of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death “without delay” despite the judge’s dying wish that her replacement would not be selected “until a new president is installed”.

Tagging the official account of the Republican Party in a Saturday morning post, the president wrote on Twitter: “We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices."

He added: "We have this obligation, without delay!”

The president’s latest comments comes as Republican leaders across the country quickly released statements during the weekend calling on him to nominate a judge to fill the seat of the late Ms Ginsburg, who passed away on Friday at the age of 87 due to complications resulting from metastatic pancreatic cancer. 

A liberal stalwart, the judge was known for her sharp dissents and had battled numerous health issues over the course of her career. She had previously called Mr Trump an “aberration” and vowed to remain on the court until a new president could nominate her replacement. 

In a statement dictated to her granddaughter shortly before her death, Ms Ginsburg reportedly said: "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed on Friday night, hours after Ms Ginsburg's death, to call a vote on whomever Mr Trump nominated.

But Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said any vote should come after the November election. “Voters should pick the president and the president should pick the justice to consider", Mr Biden said.

Ms Ginsburg, a towering women's rights champion who became the court's second female justice, died at her home in Washington.

Former president Barack Obama was among those paying tribute to Ms Ginsburg.

He said: "Over a long career on both sides of the bench - as a relentless litigator and an incisive jurist - justice Ginsburg helped us see that discrimination on the basis of sex isn't about an abstract ideal of equality; that it doesn't only harm women; that it has real consequences for all of us. It's about who we are - and who we can be."

US chief justice John Roberts also mourned Ms Ginsburg's passing, saying: "Our nation has lost a jurist of historic stature.

"We at the supreme court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her - a tireless and resolute champion of justice."

Ms Ginsburg announced in July that she was undergoing chemotherapy treatment for lesions on her liver, the latest of several battles with cancer.

She spent her final years on the bench as the unquestioned leader of the court's liberal wing and became something of a rock star to her admirers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report