![]() ![]() Putting state-level judges on federal courts can make eventual elevation to the Supreme Court smoother, one of the Trump advisers noted. Kennedy’s retirement would dramatically shift the political center of gravity on the court. Gorsuch is replacing the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a mainstay of the conservative bloc. “There’s a method to the list,” said a senior White House official.Īlthough Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell invoked the “nuclear option” Thursday to eliminate the filibuster in order to confirm Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, Trump advisers are still wary of the coming fight over Kennedy’s seat. District Judge Amul Thapar, one of the four finalists he personally interviewed for the Supreme Court seat, for a vacancy on the 6th U.S. “If they’re on a list of prospects for the Supreme Court, they’re sure as hell eligible for the Court of Appeals.”īeyond Gorsuch, Trump has so far made one other court selection, and it fits the mold of promoting young judges from his campaign list. “Funny how that happened,” said a person involved in Trump’s judicial selection process. That pool of judicial talent - in particular, younger judges serving on state supreme courts - are now the front-runners to fill top federal court vacancies, according to three people involved in Trump’s judge-selection process. Trump took the unusual step on the campaign of producing a public list of 21 possible candidates for the Supreme Court. ![]() The Trump playbook for those lower court picks is hidden in plain sight. Courts of Appeals, in a bid to tug America’s courts in a more conservative direction for decades to come. Those close to Trump’s judicial-selection process stress that they’re not pressuring Kennedy to hang up his robe, only seeking to put him at ease.īut as they wait for a decision they cannot control, White House officials have already set in motion plans to fill the more than 100 lower court vacancies, including more than 10 percent of the crucial seats on various U.S. Some in the legal world viewed Gorsuch’s selection - he would be the first Supreme Court clerk to serve alongside a former boss - as an olive branch to Kennedy that, should he retire next, his seat would be in reliable presidential hands. The White House has also closely monitored retirement chatter by tapping into the network of former Kennedy clerks, a group that includes Gorsuch himself. In February, Ivanka Trump attended oral arguments of the Supreme Court with her daughter. Patrick’s Day celebration (Justice Kennedy is Irish Catholic). Both Kennedy boys were spotted at the White House last month for the administration’s St. In fact, during the early months of the Trump administration, Gregory Kennedy has worked at NASA as a senior financial adviser as part of the so-called “beachhead” team. More recently, Kennedy’s firm, Disruptive Technology Advisers, has worked with Thiel’s company Palantir Technologies. They went to Stanford Law School together and served as president of the Federalist Society in back-to-back years, according to school records. Another is through Kennedy’s other son, Gregory, and Trump’s Silicon Valley adviser Peter Thiel. One back channel is the fact that Kennedy’s son, Justin, knows Donald Trump Jr. Replacing him with a reliable conservative would tip the court to the right, even if no other seat comes open under Trump - whose team has taken to exploring every imaginable line of communication to keep tabs on the justice and to make him comfortable as he ponders a potential retirement. ![]() The likeliest candidate is Kennedy, who has sat at the decisive fulcrum of the most important Supreme Court cases for more than a decade. While the White House is focused this week on shepherding Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, through the Senate confirmation process, the president and his team are obsessed with the next possible vacancy. ![]()
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