Trump weighs 2 or 3 candidates for court, to meet with Pence
BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. » Savoring the suspense, President Donald Trump is weighing his choice on a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy from the seclusion of his golf club in New Jersey, consulting with the vice president and others as he zeroes in on a nominee.
Ahead of a Monday night announcement from the East Room in the White House, the president told reporters he was focused on four people and “of the four people I have it down to three or two.” He was set to have dinner Friday night with Vice President Mike Pence, who has also been meeting with the finalists.
The president’s top contenders include federal appeals court judges Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Raymond Kethledge, with federal appeals court judge Thomas Hardiman still considered in the mix. As part of the rollout process, the White House has been preparing information packages on all four, said two people familiar with the process who were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Starting from a list of 25 names vetted by conservative groups, Trump has also given serious consideration to federal appeals court judges Amul Thapar and Joan Larsen, and it’s possible the White House will prepare materials for more people. The president enjoyed the suspenseful process leading up to his announcement Brett Kavanaugh is on President Donald Trump’s list of potential Supreme Court Justice candidates to fill the spot vacated by retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.
last year that he was nominating Neil Gorsuch for the high court and is hoping to keep the guessing game going until he announces his pick Monday in prime time.
The president and White House officials involved in the process have fielded calls and messages and have been on the receiving end of public pleas and op-eds for or against specific candidates ever since Kennedy announced on June 27 that he would retire this summer.
As Trump’s list tightened, there was some internal concern that the president’s options could be narrowed by the public outcry — particularly what had appeared to be mounting conservative reservations about Kavanaugh. But in recent days the White House has seen the pressure ebb, as Kavanaugh’s defenders — most recently Alberto
Gonzales, who served as attorney general under President George W. Bush — have provided balance.
Now, advisers believe, all of Trump’s finalists can earn the support of the president’s party, and ultimately confirmation. All he has to do is make up his mind.
“I am interviewing some extraordinarily talented and brilliant people and I’m very, very happy with them and we will pick somebody who will be outstanding, hopefully for many years to come,” Trump said Thursday.
Pence met in person with Kethledge and Barrett while he was vacationing in Indiana earlier this week and met with Kavanaugh at the Naval Observatory on Wednesday, said a person familiar with the process who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Pence has also spoken to Republican senators, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, about the process.
As Trump closes in on his second court pick in two years — a nominee who could tip the balance toward conservatives and revisit landmark rulings on abortion access, gay marriage and other issues — momentum is also growing among GOP supporters and detractors of the top contenders.
Aware that judicial picks are key voting issues, Trump has stressed that he wants a justice who will be a strict constitutionalist. Viewed warily by his party’s conservative base, Trump has been keen to note that all of his picks have been vetted by conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society. He also prioritizes academic credentials and likes to have a breadth of legal opinions to gauge how the judge applies the law.
Conservatives and some libertarian-leaning Republicans, including Paul, have raised concerns about Kavanaugh, warning he could disappoint Republicans if his past decisions are a guide. Paul and Cruz are supporting fellow Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who is not said to be under serious consideration by the White House but is the only lawmaker Trump has considered for the position.
With the Senate narrowly divided, 51-49, in favor of Republicans, Trump’s announcement will set off a contentious confirmation process as Republicans seek to shift the court to the right and Democrats strive to block that effort. And with the ailing Arizona Sen. John McCain away from Washington, any GOP defections could begin to doom a nominee.
Kavanaugh’s allies have begun pushing back, reaching out to influential Republicans to ward off potential criticisms, according to one conservative who was the recipient of such outreach and spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday to discuss the situation.