Billionaire Donald Trump isn’t elected yet, but he’s already thinking ahead to his presidency.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, released Wednesday a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices he plans to vet to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia if he’s elected to the White House.
The list of conservative federal and state judges includes Steven Colloton of Iowa, Allison Eid of Colorado and Raymond Gruender of Missouri.
Also on the list are: 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 and Don Willett of Texas. Trump had previously named Pryor and Sykes as examples of kind of justices he would choose.
The news comes as Trump is working to bring together a fractured Republican Party and earn the trust of still-skeptical establishment Republicans who question his electability in the general election, as well as conservatives in his party still wary of his commitment to their cause.
In a statement, Trump said the list “is representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value” and said that, as president, he would use it “as a guide to nominate our next United States Supreme Court Justices.”
His campaign stressed the list was compiled “first and foremost, based on constitutional principles, with input from highly respected conservatives and Republican Party leadership.”
Larsen, who serves on the Michigan Supreme Court and is a former law clerk to Scalia, delivered one of the tributes to the late justice at his memorial service in March. She served in the Justice Department office that produced the legal justifications for the enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, that critics have called torture.
Willett, a justice on the Texas Supreme Court, is perhaps best known for his heavy use of social media. His Twitter handle, @justicewillett, has more than 35,000 followers.
Pryor was initially given a recess appointment to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President George W. Bush. Senate Democrats had tried to block Pryor’s appointments over his strong criticism of the Roe v. Wade decision that established a woman’s right to an abortion.
Apart from Sykes, who is 58, the others all are younger than 55 and David Stras is just 41. The eight men and three women on the list are all white.
Trump’s list is also notable for the names that don’t appear. It omits two of the biggest stars in the conservative legal world, Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the federal appeals court in Washington, and former Bush administration Solicitor General Paul Clement.
Trump first said in March that he planned to release the list of five to 10 judges in an effort to ease concerns about his conservative credentials, which had come under attack in the heated Republican primary.
“I am going to give a list of either five or 10 judges that I will pick, 100 percent pick, that I will put in for nomination. Because some of the people that are against me say: ‘We don’t know if he’s going to pick the right judge. Supposing he picks a liberal judge or supposing he picks a pro-choice judge,'” Trump said at an event in Palm Beach, Florida.
He said then the list would include judges “that everybody respects, likes and totally admires” — “great conservative judges, great intellects, the people that you want.”
The vow marked a rare moment of acknowledgment by Trump that he could be doing more to appease those in his party opposed his candidacy.
Trump had said he would like to appoint judges in the mold of deeply conservative as Scalia, who died in February.
In the statement, he described Scalia as “a remarkable person and a brilliant Supreme Court Justice.”
“His career was defined by his reverence for the Constitution and his legacy of protecting Americans’ most cherished freedoms,” he added. “He was a justice who did not believe in legislating from the bench and he is a person whom I held in the highest regard and will always greatly respect his intelligence and conviction to uphold the Constitution of our country.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article
I am wondering why Judge Jeanine Pirro is not on his list! This lady is not afraid to rule by the LAW and the TRUTH! In my mind, she would be a great Supreme Court member!!
nobody would be better than judge Jeanine not only is she qualified she is young enough to handle the stress she also is 1 tough lady I watch HER PRogram every weekend especially the yalking points whe she calls a spade a spade and recenyly she has started calling Obama out on all his shady fdealings especially the executive orders she is strict but tough ans definitely knows the laws of this country wery well she is the right woman for the job an im sure she could handle it very well trump picked the right girl
She hasn’t been a judge for almost 25 years. The experience just isn’t there.
im surprised he didnt even think about Judge Jeanie Pirro or Judge Judy Shiendlin..both would be good
Yes she would.
Love Judge Jeannie.. Hope Donald will consider her. She is our favorites.
I’ll look forward to seeing what conservatives are able to dig out on these candidates. Considering how political the Supreme Court has become it would be good for all candidates to release names of those they would consider to fill vacancies. It is possible the next president will appoint three or four justices to the high court during their term.
Trump’s list of SCOTUS candidates is meaningless and is a ploy to gain the support of conservatives. He might choose from that list, but he also might not. The caveat is that there is no commitment, which renders the list meaningless.
Granted, not a guarantee. But not meaningless. Having presented this list, if he selects anyone not on this list, particularly if the individual does not have sterling constitutionalist credentials, he would make many of his supporters angry with him. If elected, I suspect that he will be rather often looking for support as he tries to leave his mark, so it seems unlikely that he would do anything which would undermine such a significant portion of his base.
How about judge Jeanine Pirro or Napolitano
Both were short term judges. They don’t have the experience.
Judge Judy
This appears to be a rather favorable list. Either Thomas Lee or Don Willet would be an excellent choice.
my best suggestion for this job would be ted cruz he has a great deal of law experience and has tried cases before the supreme court I cannot think of anyone eles that has that kinf of experience
Don Willett has about talked himself out of that job by his tweets against Trump.
I do like Judge Jeanine Pirro for that job. She is very conservative and always right on point!
ALABAMA CHIEF JUSTICE JUDGE ROY MOORE SHOULD BE THE #1 CHOICE ON TRUMP’S LIST TO REPLACE SCALIA, AND HE IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND, WHY ??????? THERE IS NO JUDGE IN AMERICA THAT IS MORE LIKE SCALIA!!!!!!!
Pirro & Shiendlin what a team ! to the point! & it would break up the man thing
MR Trump. good LUCK~~~~~~~~~~~~GOD BLESS
So proud for all of us. Good luck, God bless.