The judges on the list are reportedly Thomas Hardiman, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Raymond Kethledge, report the Washington Post and the New York Times.
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Trump plans to announce Monday that he has selected the 53-year-old federal appellate judge for the seat opened up by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy.
The Senate’s top Democrat Chuck Schumer said he would fight the nomination “with everything I have”.
“I’m getting very close to making a final decision”, Trump said.
Kavanaugh’s long and controversial history could give Democrats an opportunity to delay the confirmation vote into October, when the Supreme Court’s new term begins and when the midterm election is looming ahead.
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Although the kickoff of the battle for the court occurred with Trump’s nomination, the lines of argument worked for all the court finalists.
Kavanaugh’s description of the crucial role women have played in his life and career seemed directed at shoring up support with Republican Sens.
That is one reason many Democrats are demanding an all-out battle to block Trump’s nominee.
“I am disappointed in the president because this is not the type of person that he said he would pick”, Napolitano said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, who once held a court seat open for almost a year before the 2016 election to keep former President Barack Obama from filling it, lambasted Democrats for announcing their opposition before Trump had decided on a nominee.
Kavanaugh’s experience includes assisting Bush in the historic 2000 Florida recount that saw the Texas governor confirmed President of the United States by the Supreme Court over Al Gore in the landmark Bush v. Gore decision.
Updated today, July 9, 2018, at 9:19 p.m. with new information throughout.
By keeping Scalia’s seat open, McConnell gave Trump a head start in putting his own stamp on the high court, and the president acknowledged as much when Gorsuch was sworn in a year ago. A stickler for process with an abiding respect for Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat in the committee, he won’t hold a vote until every senator is satisfied and every piece of paper in Kavanaugh’s voluminous record has been turned over and examined.
The liberal coalition started holding events on Monday, before the announcement was made, with a focus on the twin issues of keeping abortion legal and maintaining insurance protections for people with preexisting conditions, which are the subject of a federal court case that could eventually reach the Supreme Court.
“President Trump has made an outstanding decision”, former President George W. Bush said, while his brother, dubbed “low energy” Jeb by Trump during the 2016 campaign, also praised the pick on Twitter.
He has tutored children at a Washington, D.C., elementary school, volunteered for Catholic charity groups and is a regular participant in services at his Catholic church. He noted that he understood the gravity of this matter and believed Kavanaugh has “impeccable credentials” like Neil Gorsuch, last year’s replacement for “the late great Justice Antonin Scalia”.
McConnell reportedly anxious that Kavanaugh’s paperwork trail could make him harder to confirm.
Kavanaugh has the elite academic background typical of Supreme Court justices, having received both his bachelor’s and law degrees from Yale University.
“We look forward to supporting Kavanaugh throughout the confirmation process”.
Meanwhile, liberal groups are already calling on two moderate Republican senators – Susan Collins of ME and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – to reject the nominee.
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In Poland, another ruler of authoritarian bent, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the Leaw and Justice Party, has launched a frontal assault on that nation’s Supreme Appellate Court. The Judicial Crisis Network, which describes itself as “dedicated to strengthening liberty and justice” and is committed to “limited government”, has already purchased a $1.4 million ad campaign on national cable and digital TV, and on stations in Alabama, Indiana, North Dakota, and West Virginia, featuring an introductory bio spot about the nominee.
