The President's Supreme Court Nominee to be Announced Tuesday Night; Three Favorites Emerge

Julie Brown Patton : Jan 30, 2017
Gospel Herald

[President Trump] vowed to name justices who "will not do damage to the Second Amendment" and allow decisions on abortion rights "to go back to the states."

[Gospel Herald] President Donald Trump announced on social media Monday he will announce his Supreme Court choice two days earlier than scheduled. "I have made my decision on who I will nominate for The United States Supreme Court," Trump tweeted. "It will be announced live on Tuesday at 8:00 P.M. (W.H.)." (Photo: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died unexpectedly Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016, at a ranch in Texas/Reuters/via Gospel Herald)

In replacing the late Justice Antonin Scalia, the new president is selecting from a list of 21 people, nearly all of them federal or state judges (except for Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah), who were comprised months ago by conservative interest groups. Among the list, three favorites reportedly emerged: federal appeals court judges Neil Gorsuch, 49, of Colorado, Thomas Hardiman, 51, of Pennsylvania and the original favorite, William Pryor, 54, of Alabama.

Trump's nominee likely will face intense opposition from Democrats in the Senate, where Republicans blocked former president Barack Obama's choice of federal appeals court Judge Merrick Garland last year, reports USA Today. Democrats, led by Senate.

Chuck Schumer of New York, has vowed revenge for what many consider a stolen Supreme Court seat. Unless Trump can win over eight of them, Republicans will have to change the Senate's rules, eliminating the 60-vote threshold needed to bring the nomination to the floor. Trump endorsed such a move last week.

Trump said during his campaign he would seek to "appoint judges very much in the mold of Justice Scalia"—a characteristic which Gorsuch embodies in particular, reports Yahoo.

"The Supreme Court is what it's all about," Trump said in October's last presidential debate. He vowed to name justices who "will not do damage to the Second Amendment" and allow decisions on abortion rights "to go back to the states."

Trump also had said he wanted...

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