Trump narrows list for Supreme Court justice

President says he’ll announce his nominee next week

President Trump plans to nominate a new Supreme Court justice next week to replace the late Antonin Scalia, a high- profile pick likely to re- ignite a partisan brawl over judges in the U. S. Senate and across the country.

“I’ll be making my decision this week and we’ll be announcing next week,” Trump told reporters. “We have outstanding candidates and we will pick a truly great Supreme Court justice. But I’ll be announcing it sometime next week.”

Trump discussed the selection with lawmakers who will decide the nominee’s fate, members of the Senate. They included the Republican chairman and top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold hearings on whoever is selected.

The president is looking at youngish, solidly conservative “originalist” judges in the Scalia mold, including ones with lengthy records on federal appeals courts. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump “has made it incredibly clear that he will appoint justices who protect our liberty and hold the highest regards for the Constitution.”

Some Democrats fear Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee will begin an effort to pack the high court with conservatives willing to roll back rulings on ranging from the environment to abortion rights, from civil rights to government regulatory authority.

Scalia’s death in February made the Supreme Court a major issue in the presidential election between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, and led to a Senate deadlock over President Obama’s nomination of federal appeals court Judge Merrick Garland to fill the post.

Replacing Scalia would not shift the court ideologically from where it was a year ago; it would simply restore the conservative majority that has been missing since Scalia’s death. It would also put the conservatives one seat short of a commanding majority.

The Judiciary Committee eventually will conduct hearings on Trump’s nominee, most likely in March.

From an initial list of 21 potential nominees, Trump appears to be looking seriously at these three federal appeals court judges:

Neil Gorsuch, Colorado, 10th Circuit: At 49 the youngest of the group, Gorsuch is the most natural replacement. He is a strict adherent of “originalism,” Scalia’s belief that the Constitution should be interpreted based on the intent of the Founders. He also is a distinctive writer, as Scalia was.

Gorsuch clerked for Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy, then practiced law in Washington and did a stint at the Justice Department.

William Pryor, Alabama, 11th Circuit: He’s been the conservatives’ justice- in- waiting for years, and at 54, the former Alabama attorney general comes straight out of central casting. Likely in his corner: U. S. attorney general- designate Jeff Sessions, who preceded Pryor as Alabama’s top law enforcement official.

But Pryor is controversial: He once criticized Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion, as “the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history.”

Thomas Hardiman, Pennsylvania, 3rd Circuit: A dark horse, Hardiman, 51, isn’t unfamiliar to Trump. He sits on the same U. S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit as the president’s sister, Maryanne Trump Barry.

Hardiman’s career as a judge is one of law and order. He has maintained a solidly conservative record on issues involving guns, searches, police officers and prison guards — more so than Scalia.

“We have outstanding candidates and we will pick a truly great Supreme Court justice.” President Trump