Trump says he has interviewed 4 candidates
To meet with more prospective justices
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump interviewed four prospective Supreme Court justices on Monday and had plans to meet with a few more as his White House aggressively mobilizesto select a replacement for retiring Justice AnthonyKennedy.
Eager to build suspense, Mr. Trump wouldn’t divulge who he’s talking to in advance of his big announcement, set for July 9. But he promised that “they are outstanding people. They are really incredible people in so many different ways, academically and in every other way. I had a very, very interesting morning.”
Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Mr. Trump met with four people for 45 minutes each Monday and will continue meetings through the rest ofthe week.
Possible nominees being eyed include Thomas Hardiman, who serves alongside Mr. Trump’s sister on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and Raymond Kethledge, a federal appeals court judge who clerked for Justice Kennedy. Also of interest are Amul Thapar, who serves on the federal appeals court in Cincinnati; Brett Kavanaugh, a former clerk for Justice Kennedy who serves on the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C.; and Amy Coney Barrett, who serves on the federalappeals court in Chicago.
The president spent the weekend at his Bedminster golf club, consulting with advisers, including White House counsel Don McGahn,as he considers his options to fill the vacancy with a justice who has the potential to be part of precedent-shattering court decisions on abortion, health care, gay marriage and other issues. Mr. McGahn will lead the overall selection and confirmation process, the White House said Monday, repeating the role he played in the successful confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuchlast year.
Mr. McGahn will be supported by a White House team that includes spokesman Raj Shah, taking a leave from the press office to work full time on “communications, strategy and messaging coordination with Capitol Hill allies.” Justin Clark, director of the Office of Public Liaison, will oversee White House coordination with outside groups.
Mr. Trump’s push came asthe Senate’s top Democrat tried to rally public opposition to any Supreme Court pick who would oppose abortion rights. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a campaign-season call to action for voters to prevent such a nominee by putting “pressure on the Senate,” which confirms judicial nominees.
With Mr. Trump committed to picking from a list of 25 potential nominees that he compiled with guidance from conservatives, Mr. Schumer said any of them would be “virtually certain” to favor overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that affirmed women’s right to abortion. They would also be “very likely” to back weakening former President Barack Obama’s 2010 law that expanded health care coverage to millionsof Americans, he said.
Mr. Schumer said that while Democrats don’t control the Senate — Republicans have a 51-49 edge — most senators back abortion rights. In an unusually direct appeal to voters, he said that to block “an ideological nominee,” people should “tell your senators” to oppose anyone from Mr. Trump’slist.
“It will not happen on its own,”the New Yorker wrote in an opinion column in Monday’s New York Times. “It requires the public’s focus on these issues, and its pressureon the Senate.”
Mr. Schumer’s column appeared a day after Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she would oppose any nominee she believed would overturn Roe v. Wade. Ms. Collins, who appeared on ABC’s “This Week” and CNN’s “State of the Union,” said she would only back a judge who would show respect for settled law such as the Roe decision, which has long been anathemato conservatives.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters in Ashland, Ky., on Monday that “it’s probably going to be close; I think there will be a big national, campaign rage. But in the end, I’m confident we’ll get thejudge confirmed.”
During his 2016 campaign and presidency, Mr. Trump has embraced antiabortion groups and vowed to appoint federal judges who will favor efforts to roll back abortion rights. But he told reporters on Friday that he would not question potential high-court nominees about their views on abortion, saying it was “inappropriate to discuss.”
Without Justice Kennedy, the high court will have four justices picked by Democratic presidents and four picked by Republicans, giving Mr. Trump the chance to shift the ideological balance toward conservatives for years to come. Both Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Gorsuch, Mr. Trump’s first pick to the high court, have indicatedmore broadly that they respectlegal precedent.
Mr. Trump has said he is focusing on up to seven potential candidates, including two women, to fill the vacancy being left by Justice Kennedy, a swing vote on the nine-member court.