Senator Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) said on Tuesday that she wouldn’t rule out voting to confirm President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court before election day.Murkowski initially opposed a vote before the elections, along with fellow moderate Senator Susan Collins (R., Maine). The GOP holds a 53-seat majority in the Senate, and with only Collins and Murkowski in opposition, Republicans were planning to confirm a replacement for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as fast as possible.”I know everybody wants to ask the question, ‘will you confirm the nominee?’” Murkowski said on Capitol Hill in comments reported by Alaska Public Media. “We don’t have a nominee yet. You and I don’t know who that is. And so I can’t confirm whether or not I can confirm a nominee when I don’t know who the nominee is.”Murkowski did emphasize that she opposed the confirmation process occurring fast and close to the election.”I do not support this process moving forward,” Murkwoski said. “Now, having said that, this process is moving forward with or without me.”President Trump, who has clashed frequently with Murkowski, has said he will announce his nominee this Saturday. Trump has already met twice with the frontrunner for the nomination, Judge Amy Coney Barrett of the Seventh Circuit Court, and is meeting with Judge Barbara Lagoa of the Eleventh Circuit Court on Friday.
