President Donald Trump is set to announce his Supreme Court pick Thursday — or maybe even earlier, if a rumor flying around Washington is to be believed. There have been reports that Trump, who during the campaign named 21 prospective nominees and promised his final choice would be one of them, has narrowed his options to three, all currently serving on federal courts of appeals: Neil Gorsuch from the 10th Circuit, Thomas Hardiman from the 3rd, and William Pryor from the 11th.
But there's also a feeling in Washington that some other player might still be in the mix. When discussing Senate-confirmed nominations, it always make sense to look at the favorites of powerful senators, and in that case, there just happens to be one candidate on the Trump list from Kentucky and two from Iowa — the home states, respectively, of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Judiciary Committee chairman Charles Grassley. (Amul Thapar, who has often been praised by McConnell, is currently on the U.S. District Court in Kentucky, while Iowan Steven Colloton serves on the 8th Circuit, and Edward Mansfield serves on the Iowa Supreme Court.) Things might not be as narrowed-down as some think.
Trump's 21-name list was well received in the conservative press and in conservative legal circles, so it's safe to say that if Trump picks anyone from it, the choice will be popular with those groups. Republicans and conservatives will be on board.
The reception Democrats will give Trump's choice is also easy to predict. Pick a name, any name, from the list and the odds are good that Senate Democrats and the groups that support them will portray the GOP nominee as an out-of-the-mainstream right-wing extremist who will move the country backward on civil rights, women's rights, gay rights, transgender rights, environmental protections, and all sorts of other areas.
So prepare for a lot of boilerplate arguments from both sides.
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04.27.2024