Spicer: Supreme Court pick to come within next few weeks

President Trump plans to announce a nominee to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat in the next few weeks, his team announced on Monday.

“In the next week or so, we should have an update on a nominee,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters during his first daily briefing.

He added that Trump sees a Supreme Court appointment as a “priority.”

{mosads}Trump’s nominee would fill the seat held by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last year. While former President Obama last year nominated D.C. Appeals Judge Merrick Garland to fill the seat, Republicans refused to hold hearings for eight months, blocking the nomination.

Republicans sought to use the open seat as a way to promote unity around Trump’s candidacy, arguing that the court was too important to abandon the party, despite Trump’s controversial campaign.

Trump met with Judge William Pryor, an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals judge seen as a conservative darling, two weeks ago in New York during his preparation to transition to power, according to The Associated Press.

During a press conference earlier this month, Trump said he’d likely make a nomination in the first two weeks of his administration.