It's sad when any of our leaders pass away, even if is from the other aisle. This is a two sided coin for Trump, he can try to push a candidate through and the Democrats will try to obstruct it just like the Republicans did to Obama when he nominated a very good candidate. On the other hand if a nominee is approved before the election, that's one less reason the fence sitters have to vote for him. (The ones whose only reason right now is control of the SCOTUS.).