As he left for New Jersey late Friday afternoon, President Trump would say only of his list of five finalists for the Supreme Court that two are women and that he would announce his choice to succeed retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on July 9th.
About the only thing one could say for certain about the eventual nominee was that he or she would be young (the median age of the reported five finalists is 48) and that their resumes show all to be without question conservative.
Trump was not giving out any names. But, with help from some legal analysts, sitting jurists, and confidential sources, Newsmax concluded that these are his "final five" for the high court:
1. Amy Coney Barrett, 46, of the U.S. Court of Appeals (7th Circuit). A past editor of the Notre Dame Law Review and law professor at Notre Dame, Barrett was also a clerk for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. When her appointment by Trump to the Court of Appeals was considered by the Senate Judiciary in 2017, Barrett became the subject of national headlines when Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., questioned whether her Catholic faith would have any impact on her rulings from the bench. The question brought harsh criticism from leading Catholics and a sharp rejoinder from Barrett: “It's never appropriate for a judge to impose that judge's personal convictions, whether they arise from faith or anywhere else, on the law."
2. Joan Larsen, 49, of the U.S. Court of Appeals (6th Circuit). Having graduated first in her class at the Northwestern University School of Law, Larsen moved on to a lightning legal career: Deputy assistant attorney general under George W. Bush, justice of the Michigan Supreme Court from 2015 to 2017, and then U.S. appellate judge for the past two years. A member of the Federalist Society, Larsen is also a former law clerk for the late Justice Scalia.
3. Brett Kavanaugh, 52, of the D.C. Court of Appeals. Long the favorite of Washington, D.C. legal conservatives, especially those who began their career in the Reagan administration. A graduate of Yale Law School, he clerked for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Considered a protégé of Justice Kennedy, his judicial record is considered more conservative than his mentor. He later served as special prosecutor with Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and helped lead efforts that culminated in the impeachment of Bill Clinton by the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998. He was later appointed to the federal Appeals Court by President George W. Bush. In the Trump administration, Kavanaugh’s biggest booster is White House counsel Don McGahn.
4. Mike Lee, 47, Republican U.S. senator from Utah. Trump has brought up Lee’s name as a prospective high court appointee, calling him an "outstanding talent." Virtually raised in the law (His father, Rex Lee, was President Ronald Reagan's solicitor general, and his brother, Tom Lee, is a justice of the Utah Supreme Court), Brigham Young graduate Lee clerked for Samuel Alito when the justice was an appellate judge. He also was general counsel to former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (now U.S. ambassador to Russia). Considered one of the most conservative of Senate Republicans, Lee would be the first sitting senator to be appointed to the high court since Harold Burton (Republican senator from Ohio) was named by Harry Truman in 1945, and the first Mormon to sit on the Supreme Court.
5. Amul Thapar, 49, of the U.S Court of Appeals (6th Circuit). By far the most intriguing prospect of the prospective justices, Thapar would be the first Indian-American to sit on the high court. A U.C. Berkeley School of Law graduate, Thapar is a protégé of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R.-Ky., and has moved in succession from being U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, U.S. District judge from 2008 to 2015, and since last year, an appellate judge. As a minority, court-watchers say, he might be an attractive prospect for some Democrats in the Senate to support. McConnell and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley have reportedly weighed in with the White House on his behalf.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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