11 possible Trump court picks revealed
Selections have one thing in common: All are conservative
Who would Donald Trump put on the Supreme Court? There are 11 options, all of them conservative.
Wednesday, Trump released the names of 11 people he would consider nominating to the high court if he became president, a list he said is “based on constitutional principles, with input from highly respected conservatives and Republican Party leadership.”
The list, in alphabetical order:
Steven Colloton of Iowa
Allison Eid of Colorado
Raymond Gruender of Missouri
Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania
Raymond Kethledge of Michigan
Joan Larsen of Michigan
Thomas Lee of Utah
William Pryor of Alabama
David Stras of Minnesota
Diane Sykes of Wisconsin
Don Willett of Texas Colloton, Sykes and Pryor are federal appeals court judges appointed by the last Republican president, George W. Bush, and have long been discussed as potential high court picks by the next GOP chief executive.
Sykes is the ex-wife of Charlie Sykes, a conservative Wisconsin talk show host who criticized Trump during the state’s primary last month.
Three other judges in the group also sit on federal appeals courts: Gruender, Hardiman and Kethledge.
The list includes five members of various state courts: Eid, Larsen, Lee, Stras and Willett.
These jurists have questioned Supreme Court decisions affirming abortion and gay marriage rights, and they tend to favor business interests.
The Supreme Court is a major election issue in the wake of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in February. President Obama nominated appeals Judge Merrick Garland to fill Scalia’s slot, but Senate Republicans blocked a confirmation vote to await results of the general election in November.
Trump said in March that he would release the names of judicial nominees to allay conservative groups’ concerns about his commitment to their cause. He said Scalia was “a person whom I held in the highest regard.”