The Trump 25: Life on list of candidates is complex, jolting
WASHINGTON — Joan 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. “It took her awhile to absorb the cause — the first thought was that something was terribly wrong in her family.”
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 notquite-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.
Here’s what Trump’s guidance looked like on Thursday.
“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.”
For Larsen, being on the list caused more than a surprise. After Trump narrowly carried Michigan, Larsen recused herself from matters relating to Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s request for a recount. Larsen said she stepped aside even though she hadn’t asked to be on Trump’s list, had no prior notice that he had chosen her and had no contact with Trump