President Donald Trump is on the verge of announcing who will be his nominee to the United States Supreme Court that will replace late Judge Antonin Scalia. According to official information, that announcement will be next week.
This announcement will be one of the most important choices Trump would have to make while he is in the White House. To fill one empty seat in the U.S. Supreme Court is one of the most important responsibilities that the Commander in Chief has to overcome.
The conservative wing of the country has had its differences with recently elected President Trump, and for that reason, this court decision could be a way for Trump to make peace with that side of the nation. He even said that he promised to recommend “judges very much in the mold of Justice [Antonin] Scalia.”
However, Trump would have to struggle with Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, as he has said that he would only approve a “bipartisan” or “mainstream” nominee. This promise made by Schumer makes the path harder to Trump on his way to pacify his relationship with conservatives.
White House leaks about possible candidates
The conservative wing of the country could have reasons to celebrate, since leaks from the White House reported by Los Angeles Times, show how the three possible candidates for the nomination were all appointed by George W. Bush, who is remembered for selecting some of the most conservatives judges in history during his presidency.
Neil Gorsuch of the Tenth Circuit Court in Colorado, Thomas Hardiman of the Third Circuit Court in Pennsylvania, and William H. Pryor Jr. of the Eleventh Circuit in Alabama are the possible candidates for the nomination, while Hardiman seems like the likely choice.
One of the most notable facts about these three candidates is that none of them has more than 55 years old. This could translate into one of them leaving an entire generation of “Trumpian” imprints in the Supreme Court rulings.
Pryor is the most conservative of the possible candidates, as he has referred to the Roe v Wade decision as an “abomination.” Gorsuch was a former Bush administration Department of Justice official and Hardiman is a less prominent conservative, as he, for example, voted against tight limits regarding open carry of guns in the state of New Jersey.
Hardiman, 51, has already been nominated to the bench, during the George W. Bush Administration. He was born in Massachoussets and got his college degree in the Georgetown University. He has been Justice in Philadelphia on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit since 2007.
Carl W. Tobias of the University of Richmond School of Law, says that Hardiman has not weighed any “high-profile” cases. However, Tobias states, he is a very solid judge who understands “what it is like to be in the trenches.”
Source: LA Times