Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch following a swearing in ceremony with President Donald Trump and Justice Anthony Kennedy in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 10, 2017, in Washington, D.C. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Responding to rumors that a senior justice on the U.S. Supreme Court could step down this summer, President Donald Trump reportedly plans to fill any vacancy from a hand-picked list of conservative jurists compiled by a pair of powerful Washington think tanks and delivered to him during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump told The Washington Times on Sunday he's heard chatter about the possible retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, a member of the court's five-member conservative bloc but who sometimes sides with his liberal colleagues. If Kennedy leaves, Trump said, he'll pick a replacement from the 21-member list of jurists given to him by the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society.
His next Supreme Court nominee will be "really talented and of our views," Trump said. Asked specifically whether he would pick from the list he promoted during the campaign, Trump was firm.
"Yes," he said. "That list was a big thing. … It's a great list. From the moment I put that list out, it solved that problem. And I was proud to say it was my idea."
The Supreme Court's newest member, Justice Neil Gorsuch, was on that list when Trump nominated him in February. Despite broad Democratic opposition, the Republican-majority Senate confirmed him, and he was sworn in two weeks ago.
At the height of the presidential campaign, amid concerns on the right about Trump's conservative bona fides, the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society created the list of potential Supreme Court nominees – judges they believe are solid conservatives that could easily win Senate confirmation. Conservatives instantly embraced the concept, and Trump's pledge to use it helped him galvanize support among both grass-roots and establishment Republicans.
The list also paid big dividends when Trump won the presidency and Senate Republicans successfully blocked former President Barack Obama from filling the vacancy created when Justice Antonin Scalia, a staunch conservative, died suddenly in February 2016. Within weeks of his inauguration, Trump kept his promise and nominated Gorsuch to replace Scalia.
Though Senate Democrats – still seething over the GOP's blockade of Merrick Garland, Obama's nominee – linked arms to try and block Gorsuch, Republicans used their majority power and permanently stripped them of the right to filibuster any Supreme Court nominee.
That means if Trump gets to fill another vacancy, his nominee won't need any votes from Senate Democrats to win confirmation. Analysts predict the president could have as many as three appointments in his first term – a rare chance to pack the court and perhaps create an implacable, 6-3 or 7-2 conservative majority.
In his interview with The Washington Times, Trump said he didn't have any inside information on potential Supreme Court vacancies.
"I don't know. I have a lot of respect for Justice Kennedy, but I just don't know," he said. "I don't like talking about it. I've heard the same rumors that a lot of people have heard. And I have a lot of respect for that gentleman, a lot."
If Kennedy stepped down, however, Trump's pick would probably anchor the court on the right, leaving liberals without a powerful swing justice as an occasional counterweight to conservatives. Kennedy delivered decisive votes that helped established same-sex marriage as constitutional and blocked a Texas student's attempts to dismantle affirmative-action programs in college admissions.
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