(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump signaled he'll move quickly to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, tweeting Saturday morning that it's the Republican Party's “obligation” to do so.
The tweet eliminates any doubt about whether Trump would move forward to fill a seat so close to an election, after Republicans refused to allow Barack Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to proceed in 2016.
Ginsburg, 87, died Friday at her home from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer. Her death gives Trump the opportunity to replace a liberal justice with a conservative, potentially reshaping the court for a generation.
It would be Trump's third nomination to the Supreme Court in his first term. Obama appointed just two justices in eight years as president.
Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate and can lose as many as three votes while still being able to confirm a nominee.
A handful of Senate Republicans have expressed unease with moving forward on a nomination, given McConnell's position on Garland. It isn't clear if they would stand in the way of a vote before Election Day, or if they would consent to a vote after the election, even if Trump loses, during the so-called lame duck session of Congress.
Trump has said he would select a nominee from a list of 44 people he announced earlier this month who are considered to have rock-solid conservative credentials. Among Trump's allies, an early favorite swiftly emerged in the hours after Ginsburg's death: Appeals Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
Read More: Amy Coney Barrett Emerges as Front-Runner
Trump's list also includes three sitting U.S. senators: Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Tom Cotton of Arkansas. All have have said they aren't interested.
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