A Supreme Court candidate scorecard
A look at the pluses and minuses for people on the president’s short list
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump says he likes all of his potential Supreme Court nominees.
Aides and advisers say he likes them for different reasons.
As Trump approaches Monday’s announcement of his nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, aides and advisers say the president is weighing different factors for different candidates.
The biggest factor could be the degree of difficulty for Senate confirmation. “He needs to produce a nominee who is hard to criticize on objective grounds,” says David Lat of the legal website Above The Law, who is in contact with officials involved in the process.
Here’s a scorecard for the people on Trump’s short list:
Brett Kavanaugh of Maryland, 53, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Pluses: A Yale Law graduate to Gorsuch’s Harvard, the two served together as law clerks to retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. Whip-smart and popular with the Federalist Society set, Kavanaugh has a long record of opinions and dissents that leaves little for Trump or Senate Republicans to worry about.
Minuses: That record will give opponents much to work with. His contention that presidents should be free from lawsuits and investigations likely pleases Trump but will confound Democrats.
Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana, 46, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit
Pluses: She rocketed to the top of Trump’s list with a stellar performance during her confirmation last fall, when Democrats cited her Catholic faith as a potential problem. The mother of seven children, including two from Haiti and one with special needs, she offers the imagery Trump craves. The fact that she’s a woman may box in Democrats.
Minuses: She has served as a judge for just eight months, which gives her the least experience of any of the po- tential nominees. She has written that Supreme Court precedents are not sacrosanct, which liberals have interpreted as a threat to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide
Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, 51, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit
Pluses: His adherence to textualism and originalism, the twin tenets that drove Justice Antonin Scalia, pleases conservatives. A finalist for the job last year, he emerged with Kavanaugh as a leading contender for the next opening.
Minuses: Despite a decade on the appeals court, his record is thin in several areas of the law, which worries some conservatives. Though major cases on Obamacare and same-sex marriage came through his circuit, he did not serve on the panels considering them.
Amul Thapar of Kentucky, 49, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit
Pluses: After Gorsuch, he was Trump’s first federal court nominee last year. His guardian angel in the Senate is Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a fellow Kentuckian. He would be the first Indian American on the court and among few in history to have trial experience on a district court.
Minuses: He has served on the appeals court for little more than a year and has yet to rule on most controversial topics, giving conservatives little proof of his convictions.