White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows announced this week that the president would soon release a new list of potential Supreme Court nominees — and on Wednesday, Donald Trump delivered.
According to Fox News, Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AK), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Ted Cruz (R-TX) are among the names included on Trump’s list of 20 new potential nominees to the Supreme Court.
The latest SCOTUS bombshell
Trump similarly released a list of SCOTUS judges before the 2016 election, a move that was instrumental in reassuring conservatives that the political newcomer and larger-than-life real estate mogul would take their concerns seriously.
President Trump went on to win the presidency and shift the balance of the Supreme Court to the right, successfully confirming two justices in his first term. But with a partisan divide only deepening nationwide, the Supreme Court has continued to take on a winner-takes-all significance since the scorched-earth fight to confirm Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.
In addition to Hawley, Cruz, and Cotton, some of the names on Trump’s new list are Noel Francisco, Trump’s former solicitor general, and Daniel Cameron, Kentucky’s attorney general, Fox reports. They and 15 others join some 25 judges who have been previously named by Trump as potential high court nominees.
At a press conference Wednesday, Trump framed his latest picks as warriors against an “extreme” left-wing that wants to “transform” the country from the bench and challenged Democrat White House hopeful Joe Biden to release his own list.
“Every one of these individuals will ensure equal justice, equal treatment and equal rights for citizens of every race, color, religion, and creed,” Trump said of his new picks, according to CNBC.
GOP senators react
Speculation that Trump could nominate a third justice during his tenure has ramped up in recent months as health concerns surrounding arch-liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg drive worries on the left about maintaining the right to an abortion.
Sen. Cotton issued a bold statement Wednesday that seemed to confirm their fears: “It’s time for Roe v. Wade to go,” he tweeted, according to Fox. Cruz, meanwhile, called Trump’s consideration of him an “immense honor.”
Hawley, for his part, thanked Trump, but said that he would be better off working in the Senate.
“I appreciate the President’s confidence in listing me as a potential Supreme Court nominee,” he tweeted, according to Fox. “But as I told the President, Missourians elected me to fight for them in the Senate, and I have no interest in the high court. I look forward to confirming constitutional conservatives.”
Although another vacancy on the Supreme Court bench seems unlikely any time soon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has already said that the GOP will fill one without hesitation.
The post Trump adds 20 names to his list of potential SCOTUS nominees first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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