Life on Trump’s list is complex, jolting

WASHINGTON— Jo a n Larsen’s phone was suddenly abuzz. At first, the Michigan Supreme Court justice thought something bad must have happened. But then she realized it was just that Donald Trump, then the GOP’s 2016 presidential candidate, had added her name to a list of people he would consider for a seat on the nation’s highest court.

“She was stunned to see the sheer crushing volume of texts and emails,” recalled longtime friend and University of Michigan Law School colleague Sarah C. Zearfoss.

Thus began life on The List— the longest and most public collection of potential presidential Supreme Court nominees in history. Trump says he’ll choose from among the 25 candidates on the list on Monday to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.

After that, 24 of them will remain on what will be the not-quite-it list—a collection of administration-approved conservatives designed by the Federalist Society to appeal to Trump’s all-important base of supporters. What the Trump two dozen get in return involves a measure of prestige and also something of a pain. It means having every word flyspecked indefinitely, with friends and family along for the bizarre public ride. Every name on there is subject to the volatile president’s whimsy, often with no advance notice. And there’s the threat of being always a bridesmaid, perennially on display but never chosen.

“I think I have it down to four people and I think of the four people, I have it down to three or two. I think they’re all outstanding. Honestly I could pick any of the 25 and they would be terrific,” Trump told reporters. “Those are very terrific people. The whole list is extraordinary.”

So is the experience of being on it, particularly for those jurists not accustomed to the searing Trumpian spotlight.

Take it from Justice Neil Gorsuch, an alumnus of Trump’s list confirmed to fill the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia. In 2016, Gorsuch was a Colorado jurist who tried “to live under a shell during the campaign season, watch baseball and football. Go about my business,” as he told the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing last year.

Gorsuch described a friend letting him know over breakfast that Gorsuch was not included on Trump’s list.

“He said, ‘Neil, you’re not on the list. And I said, ‘You’re right, I’m not on the list,’” Gorsuch recalled. But then, walking away from the meal, Gorsuch said he got an email from the same breakfast mate.

“‘There’s a new list. And you’re on it,’” Gorsuch recalled the email saying. “That was the first I heard of it.”

Members of the federal judiciary are grown-ups with hefty credentials who know they are public figures and worked hard to get there. Many see being considered for the Supreme Court as an honor in itself, the confirmation gauntlet of senator meetings and packed hearings a hardship worth enduring for the lifelong job at the apex of the American justice system.

Associated Press writers Jessica Gresko in Washington and Ryan J. Foley in Iowa City, Iowa, contributed to this report.