President Trump released a total of three lists of potential Supreme Court nominees since becoming president. The most recent one, released just ten days ago, added twenty to the number, bringing the total to forty four. However, a short list does exist. The following are the names that have been trending and/or mentioned by Trump as a possible appointee.
One thing to note is that Trump’s first list in 2016 largely adopted the Supreme Court Justices list by John Malcolm, a legal expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
8. William H. Pryor Jr.
Born in Mobile, Alabama, Pryor graduated from Northeast Louisiana University with his bachelor’s degree and from Tulane University Law School with his J.D.
He currently sits on the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta. He first joined the court on a recess appointment from former President George W. Bush in 2004 and later received his commission as an Article III judge in 2005. Prior to his appointment, Pryor was the attorney general of Alabama. A conservative, he recently wrote a majority opinion ruling that people with felony criminal records in Florida were ineligible to vote unless they paid back all of their outstanding court fines and fees. At one point, he stated that Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a constitutional right to abortion, was “the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history.” At his 2003 confirmation hearing, he stood by that statement.
7. James Ho
Judge James Ho serves on the 5th Circuit at New Orleans. He’s a former solicitor general in the Texas attorney general’s office. Ho is a former clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas.
A native of Taiwan, Ho earned his bachelor’s degree with honors from Stanford University in 1995. He earned his J.D. with high honors from the University of Chicago.
Ho served as a counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will consider any nomination, and worked in the Justice Department on civil rights.
He strongly supported police officers in an opinion on qualified immunity. He also ruled against an inmate seeking sex reassignment surgery.
The American Bar Association rated Ho Substantial Majority Well Qualified, Minority Qualified for the nomination.
6. Raymond Kethledge
Kethledge has been a member of the Federal Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit since 2008. He was nominated by President George W. Bush. He was considered seriously for the vacancy after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in February 2016.
Kethledge was included on President Donald Trump’s 2018 list of 25 potential Supreme Court nominees to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Kethledge graduated from the University of Michigan with his bachelor’s degree and from the University of Michigan Law School with his J.D. After graduation, he clerked for Sixth Circuit Judge Ralph B. Guy Jr. He then served as counsel to Sen. Spencer Abraham (R) and clerked for Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Kethledge has taught at the University of Michigan Law School.
5. Amul Thapar
Thapar currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.
A former Kentucky judge and U.S. attorney with vast trial court experience – a rarity on the Supreme Court – When Trump nominated more than 200 federal judges in 2017, at first place was Gorsuch. Second was Amul Thapar.
Thapar is a protégé of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. If confirmed, 51 year old Thapar would be the first Indian American to reach the nation’s highest court.
Thapar has voted in favor of upholding Ohio’s method of lethal injection for executions, and Michigan county’s practice of opening government meetings with Christian prayers.
Thapar was born in Detroit to Indian immigrants. He grew up in Toledo, Ohio, went to Boston College for undergrad, where he majored in economics and philosophy. He went to University of California-Berkeley for his law degree. He converted to Catholicism when he got married. He and his wife have three children.
4. Allison Eid
Eid, 55, hails from Colorado and graduated from Stanford University and the University of Chicago Law School. She is a former law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas. She later taught at the University of Colorado Law School.
Judge Eid succeeded Neil Gorsuch’s seat in a 56-41 vote on the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit since 2017 when Gorsuch was appointed to the Supreme Court. She had served as Colorado’s solicitor general and on the Colorado Supreme Court for over a decade by then.
3. Thomas M. Hardiman
Thomas Michael Hardiman is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. He joined the court in 2007 after being nominated by President George W. Bush. Prior to his service on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Hardiman was a judge on the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Born in Winchester, Massachusetts, Hardiman was the first person in his family to go to college. He received his bachelor’s degree in liberal studies and Spanish from the University of Notre Dame and his J.D. from Georgetown. While at Georgetown, he drove a taxi cab to help pay for his law degree.
Hardiman passed the bar exam in 1990 and joined Cindrich & Titus in Pittsburgh. He became a partner there when he was 30. He then moved to Reed Smith LLP, where he was when he began as a judge in 2003.
Former President George W. Bush appointed Hardiman as the judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 2003. In 2005, Bush appointed him as judge of the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. It took the U.S. Senate seven months to approve his nomination, which was eventually approved by a 95-0 vote.[6]
Hardiman has a solid record of conservative rulings. Judge Hardiman served with Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, the president’s sister, on the appeals court, and Judge Barry recommended Judge Hardiman to her brother after the death of Justice Scalia.
Click to continue reading and see the top 2 picks of President Trump for the Supreme Court.
Disclosure: This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
