On September 18, 2020, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (opens in new tab), the second female Supreme Court justice, died of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer. the 87-year-old justice was a trailblazer for women around the world, and her death has left Americans unable to understand what the future holds for America left incomprehensible.

Initially, there were conflicting reports about whether President Donald Trump could and would nominate a Supreme Court justice in an election year. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican) soon became the deciding vote; in 2016, McConnell was notorious for blocking the confirmation of Merrick Garland (President Barack Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court) to fill the vacancy of Justice Antonin Scalia by refusing a hearing or vote Notorious. Instead, he said the president-elect should pick the nominee and let Obama's nomination lapse. Donald Trump eventually nominated Neil Gorsuch.

Within hours of the announcement of RBG's death, senators began speaking out about whether they should vote to confirm his replacement in an election year; on his deathbed, RBG dictated the following statement to his granddaughter, Clara Spera (opens in new tab): "My most sincere wish is that the new My most sincere wish is that my successor will not be chosen until the new president is inaugurated." Ultimately, McConnell and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (Republican) decided that precedent and RBG's wishes did not matter and decided that President Trump's nominee, Amy Coney Barrett (opens in new tab) (a religious conservative judge currently serving on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals), should be confirmed in the 10 confirmation hearing (opens in new tab) for the week of October 12 to proceed.

Connie Barrett will likely be confirmed to the Supreme Court (opens in new tab) unless Senators Susan Collins (R-Mich.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Ariz.), and two other Republican senators vote "no." Below are the Senators' initial thoughts on whether there should be a formal nomination before the 2020 election and whether they will vote to confirm Judge Barrett:

Senator Collin does not have a Twitter feed, but his remarks here (opens in a new tab) and here (opens in a new tab) You can read them here.

This article will be updated.