Trump calls Justice Ginsburg an ‘amazing woman,’ doesn’t mention filling her vacant court seat

BEMIDJI, Minnesota — President Donald Trump says the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was “an amazing woman” who led an “amazing life.”

Ginsburg died Friday of complications from cancer at the age of 87. The news of her death broke shortly after Trump began to address a campaign rally in Minnesota.

Trump spoke obliquely about future Supreme Court vacancies but did not mention the late justice during nearly two hours of remarks.

Trump told reporters after the rally as he headed back to Air Force One that he didn’t know Ginsburg had died.

Ginsburg was a key liberal vote on the court, and her death leaves a vacancy that will spur a fight over her replacement with less than seven weeks before the election.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to hold confirmation hearings for President Barack Obama’s court pick to replace Antonin Scalia when the justice died in February 2016. He cited the reason as it being an election year.

But McConnell said Friday that the Senate will vote on whomever Trump picks to replace Ginsburg.