Will this GOP senator get nominated to the Supreme Court if a Republican becomes president?
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah is getting attention as a potential Supreme Court nominee if Republicans win the White House.
According to the Washington Post, conservatives are “quietly touting” Lee, who is already mentioned as a potential candidate by Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz. Prominent conservatives are pushing Donald Trump to also embrace Lee, the newspaper reports.
Lee, the son of former Solicitor General Rex Lee, attended Brigham Young University Law School and clerked for Samuel A. Alito Jr. when he was a federal appeals judge and then again when Alito became a Supreme Court justice. Afterward, Lee worked as a federal prosecutor and as general counsel for then Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.
Lee is only 44, which would give him several years on the U.S. Supreme Court. And he has a conservative paper trail. He wrote an e-book called Why John Roberts was wrong about Healthcare, and called Roberts’ vote upholding the law “a betrayal of his judicial oath.” He was also chief sponsor of a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks in Washington, D.C.
Koch Industries general counsel Mark Holden is working with Lee and other senators on criminal justice reform that would reduce mandatory-minimum sentences. Holden told the Post that Lee believes in limited government and is strong on First Amendment protections.
