Supreme Court nomination will be in prime time
President: Nominee will appeal to evangelicals, other Christians
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will announce his first Supreme Court nomination in prime time today, he tweeted Monday morning.
“I have made my decision on who I will nominate for The United States Supreme Court. It will be announced live on Tuesday at 8:00 P.M. (W.H.),” he tweeted.
The announcement was moved up two days amid the continued fallout from the executive action Trump signed temporarily banning refugee admissions from some countries.
Trump had tweeted last week that he would announce his Supreme Court nominee Thursday.
In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network on Friday, Trump said his administration was doing some final vetting of his choice to replace the late Antonin Scalia, and that the pick would be from among the list of 20 names he issued during the election campaign.
“I think the person I pick will be big, big,” he said. “I think people are going to love it. I think evangelicals, Christians will love my pick. And will be represented very fairly.”
The leading contenders are Judge Thomas Hardiman of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Neil M. Gorsuch of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge William H. Pryor Jr. from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The move could prompt a major clash with Senate Democrats, who have warned the president against a choice outside what they consider the “mainstream.” Some are threatening to block any choice in retaliation for Senate Republicans’ refusal to even hold hearings on President Barack Obama’s choice to replace Scalia, Merrick Garland.
Democrats’ 2013 change to Senate rules that allowed most nominations to advance with a simple majority vote exempted Supreme Court nominations, meaning that Democrats could potentially filibuster the choice.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., appeared to rule out any further rule change in an interview last week, though Trump urged him to consider doing so.