Trump releases new list of possible SCOTUS picks
Donald Trump. Photo by a katz / Shutterstock.com
Donald Trump has released a new list of possible Supreme Court picks that appears to address criticism that his prior list lacked diversity.
Law.com (sub. req.) points to more diverse picks: U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar of the Eastern District of Kentucky is an Indian-American; U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno of the Southern District of Florida was born in Venezuela; and Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert P. Young Jr. is black.
There is only one woman on the new list, however: Judge Margaret Ryan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
Only one person on the list is not a sitting judge. He is U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who backed U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in the primary and has not endorsed Trump, the Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire reports. A Lee spokesperson tells Politico “he already has the job he wants.”
Lee had praised Trump’s first list of potential nominees, which included Lee’s brother, Utah Supreme Court Justice Thomas Lee.
Here is the full list, first reported by NBC:
• U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah
• Judge Neil Gorsuch of the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
• Judge Margaret Ryan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
• Iowa Supreme Court Justice Edward Mansfield
• Georgia Supreme Court Justice Keith Blackwell
• Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Canady
• Chief Judge Timothy Tymkovich of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
• U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar of the Eastern District of Kentucky
• U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno of the Southern District of Florida
• Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Young
Carrie Severino, director of the Judicial Crisis Network, praised the new list, saying that “conservative should be very pleased.”
Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice Action Campaign, had a different view. “Trump has gone back to the same well that produced his first list of ultraconservatives who espouse a backward view of the law,” she said in a statement.
