MARCHES ARE A ‘FAMILY’ AFFAIR
Pretty good bet next Supreme will be a she
The odds that President Trump will choose a woman to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court just kicked up a notch — and political handicappers took note.
Trump has winnowed down his short list of candidates to “about five,” two of them female, he said Friday.
He promised to make his selection from the same list of 25 jurists that he publicized during his 2016 campaign. It includes six women.
International betting sites taking wagers see Amy Coney Barrett as a frontrunner.
“There’s a lot of buzz about her, with good reason,” legal pundit John Hinderaker of the Power Line blog told The Post.
Age is a top consideration, experts said. Presidents typically rank youthful candidates higher, hoping they will remain in the lifetime job for decades.
“I would not expect it to be anyone over the age of 54,” said James Copland, the Manhattan Institute’s director of le- gal policy. That would rule out Diane Sykes, 60, and lowers the chances for Margaret Ryan, 54, and Allison Eid, 53.
At 46, Barrett is “prime territory in terms of age,” Hinderaker noted.
The former Notre Dame law professor and mother of seven was grilled about her faith by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) during a Senate hearing in September, when Barrett was nominated for a seat on the federal bench.
Feinstein declared that “the dogma lives loudly within you,” suggesting that Barrett might have a pro-Catholic bias.
Barrett replied, “It is never appropriate for a judge to apply their personal convictions.”
Joan Larsen, 49, is also in the running, Hinderaker said. “She was confirmed to the federal bench in November without a lot of fireworks, on a 60-38 vote,” he said. “She passed so easily such a short time ago, you’d have to ask why anyone . . . would oppose her now.”
The youngest woman on the list, Georgia Supreme Court Justice Britt Grant, 40, is likely too inexperienced to get the nod, Hinderaker said. But don’t count out the dark horse. “She would be by far the most attractive justice in the history of the Supreme Court,” he said — no small matter for the Trump administration.