President Donald Trump on Saturday nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, and she pledged to become a justice in the mold of the late staunch conservative Antonin Scalia - another milestone in Trump’s rightward shift of the top US judicial body.

Trump’s announcement during a flag-festooned White House Rose Garden ceremony - with Barrett (above), 48, by his side and her seven children present - sets off a scramble by Senate Republicans to confirm her which the president has requested before Election Day in a little over five weeks as he seeks a second term in office...