President Donald Trump will be deciding on justice to the U.S. Supreme Court this weekend and will have the luxury of picking his nominee from a group of about four well-qualified women.
One of those women in contention for the appointment has already been called “excellent” and “terrific” by President Trump himself
52-year-old Miami native and federal judge Barbara Lagoa, who is the daughter of Cuban exiles, is considered to be one of the top candidates in the running to replace the recently-deceased Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
"She's excellent," Trump said on Fox News. "She's Hispanic. She's a terrific woman from everything I know ... [but] I don't know her. Florida — we love Florida."
There is a lot of political speculation being circulated within Republican Party circles that Trump could pick Lagoa because of a potential election day lift he might receive in Florida, particularly in Miami-Dade County, if he picked a Cuban-American and presumably bi-lingual jurist.
During a Trump Victory press call held with Rep. Greg Steube and Republican Party of Florida Chairman Joe Gruters to discuss the president’s imminent pick to the Supreme Court, Rep. Steube said that “whoever the president picks” he would support that nomination because he (the president) “has the Constitutional obligation and right” to fill the vacancy left by Justice Bader Ginsburg.
“We cannot have a 4-4 court going into what is likely to e a divisive election,” said Rep. Steube. I think it’s a great thing for the state of Florida to have a justice who is being considered not as justice from Florida, but a justice who is a female and who is of Hispanic descent speaks volumes for the type of justices .”
Chairman Gruters didn’t believe that a Lagoa nomination “will impact the race,” emphasizing that because of President Trump’s “proven track record of judges that follow the Constitution,” that it was a “good bet that all” of the women being considered were qualified for the job.
Considering that he is the head of the state GOP, it’s Gruters’ job to throw political jabs at the opposition. Gruters didn’t disappoint.
Gruters said that Vice President Joe Biden is refusing to answer the question of whether he would pack the Supreme Court, even though he once called court-packing a “bonehead idea,” adding that the former vice president “can’t bring himself to release his list of jurists” because his list would be full of “radical liberals who want to legislate from the bench.”
"The fastest way to delegitimize the Judiciary is to pack the Supreme Court,” said Gruters. Joe Biden needs to reject this dangerous push from his party would be radical liberals who want to legislate from the bench."
Florida’s two U.S. Senators, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott have both come out in support of Lagoa, and according to the Miami Herald, Sen. Rubio has even lobbied President Trump on her nomination.
“I spoke to him today,” Rubio said Wednesday, referring to Trump. “I think [Lagoa] would be great and I’m a big fan of Judge Barrett, too. I have a preference, I suppose, for Lagoa because she’s from South Florida, because her life story is emblematic of everything we hope for our children in our community.”
President Trump is expected to make his choice on Saturday, and the Republican-controlled Senate will begin confirmation hearings in about two weeks.
