President Donald Trump is expected to announce his choice on Tuesday 8 p.m. ET for the Supreme Court justice to replace the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Feb. 13, 2016.
The live stream is available below. The White House plans to host a Facebook Live, as well.
Since Jan. 31, the original publishing date of this article, the live stream has been removed; however, the Facebook Live video (above) has been preserved.
William Pryor, a judge on the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. CircuitCourtof Appeals;Neil Gorsuch, a judge on the Denver-based 10th U.S. CircuitCourtof Appeals; and Thomas Hardiman, who serves on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. CircuitCourtof Appeals are all potential nominees.
“We’ll be announcing a Supreme Court justice who I think everybody’s going to be impressed with,” Trump told reporters at a cyber security event at the White House.
CNN, citing an unnamed source, said Gorsuch had been told he was the likely nominee.
About an hour after news of Scalia’s death reached Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell publicly rebuked then-President Barack Obama and called for a categorical refusal to approve any nominee the 44th president chose.
Some Democrats have said the Republicans effectively stole a Supreme Court seat from Obama by refusing to confirm Judge Merrick Garland.
Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley has vowed to pursue a procedural hurdle called a filibuster for Trump’s nominee, meaning 60 votes would be needed in the 100-seat Senate unless its long-standing rules are changed. Trump’s fellow Republicans hold a 52-48 majority, meaning some Democratic votes would be needed to confirm his pick.
McConnell warned Democrats on Monday that senators should respect Trump’s election victory and give the nominee “careful consideration followed by an up-or-down vote,” not a filibuster.
Trump said last week he would favor Senate Republicans eliminating the filibuster, a change dubbed the “nuclear option,” forSupremeCourtnomineesif Democrats block his pick.
-Reuters contributed to this report.
