US race heats up as Trump seeks quick court replacement

The race for the White House heated up Sunday with both sides galvanized by the battle to nominate a new Supreme Court justice and Donald Trump vowing to soon name his choice.

The president said Saturday that he expected to announce his nominee in the coming week and that it "will be a woman - a very talented, very brilliant woman".

He said he had not made his final decision, however, on a replacement for liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday at 87.

The prospect of a Senate confirmation vote on a Trump nominee before the November 3 election has sparked furious pushback from Democrats desperate to stop Trump moving the court lastingly to the right.

But with two Republican senators - Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine - now opposing a rushed vote, the Senate may be more likely to act in the lame-duck session immediately following the election.

Either way, politicians in both parties are bracing for a seismic battle in a year that has already seen an impeachment vote, the Covid-19 pandemic and a bruising economic collapse.

Trump's opponent in the election, former vice president Joe Biden, has joined other Democrats in saying the choice of Ginsburg's...