Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings Scheduled To Begin Oct. 12: Reports

The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin holding confirmation hearings on President Donald Trump’s new Supreme Court nominee on Oct. 12, according to multiple outlets.

Trump is expected to name Amy Coney Barrett, a circuit court judge, to the seat vacated by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Sept. 18 of complications from cancer.

Ginsburg died just 46 days before the presidential election on Nov. 3, but Republicans in the Senate are determined to push through Trump’s nominee before Election Day, arguing that the court may need to step in to settle the election results.

Trump has strongly hinted that he will put up a fight if he is not the decisive winner, claiming without evidence that voting by mail will lead to massive voter fraud.

Yet the timetable is ambitious. The Senate will try to squeeze into just over three weeks a confirmation process that typically takes around two months.

Republicans, however, already appear to have the 51 votes needed to confirm Trump’s nominee. Barrett was also recently vetted in the Senate for her appointment to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017, making it less likely that a detail from her past will emerge to disqualify her.

Beloved by conservatives, Barrett is regarded by liberals as a threat to abortion rights and health care coverage.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.