A prominent conservative judicial group launched a $2.2 million ad buy to back President Trump’s soon-to-be-announced Supreme Court nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The Judicial Crisis Network, run by Carrie Severino, will begin its ad blitz with a video titled “Follow Precedent,” which highlights the swift confirmation process of several Supreme Court Justices, including Ginsburg, in summer 1993.
The ad will appear on TV and digital airing nationally on cable and in key states, including Colorado, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Utah, and Washington, D.C.
“President Trump will soon pick a strong nominee, and the Senate should act quickly to confirm her,” the network said in a statement. “There is no reason Judge Amy Coney Barrett or Judge Barbara Lagoa could not be confirmed before the election.”
Trump said he would announce a nominee later this week after the memorial arrangements for Ginsburg have passed. Among the front-runners of Trump’s potential picks are Amy Coney Barrett, a federal appellate court judge, and Barbara Lagoa, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit based in Georgia.
Barrett was also a contender to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy in 2018, a seat that ultimately was filled by Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Lagoa, of Florida, was the first Latina to serve on Florida’s high court and could help potentially boost Trump’s reelection chances in the crucial state heading into November.
Severino, a onetime law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas, told CNBC the network is set to “match” and “surpass” the ad spending of their progressive rival Demand Justice, who said they would invest $10 million in ads against filling Ginsburg’s seat until after the election.
“We are going to have a state of the art campaign, using whatever we need to win this fight,” Severino said.
The network has been influential in backing Trump’s other two nominees to the court, Kavanaugh and Justice Neil Gorsuch.
The group spent $10 million in support of Kavanaugh, who was confirmed by the Senate with a 50-48 vote. The network spent a similar amount in support of Gorsuch in 2017, who was confirmed 54-45 by the Senate.
Senate Democrats say pushing through a Supreme Court nominee weeks before Election Day is an act of rank hypocrisy by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and his Republican colleagues, since then-President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, never received consideration in 2016, much further out from voting.
