McConnell Planning to Ram Through Trump Pick if Clarence Thomas Retires Before Election: Report

Congressional officials and White House aides are preparing for the possibility Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, 72, will retire before the 2020 election, according to a Wednesday report, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) already has a replacement in mind.

Aides to President Donald Trump view Thomas “as the most likely” justice to retire this year, according to the report in The Washington Post. One outside adviser to Trump suggested McConnell favors 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amul Thapar to replace Thomas, saying, “If Thomas goes, you’ve got a lot of people around this process ready to support Thapar — and McConnell ready to move his favorite through.”

Trump has appointed two Supreme Court justices since his election, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. Gorsuch’s nomination came after an acrimonious process that kicked off after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in February 2016. Former President Barack Obama nominated District Judge Merrick Garland to the post in March, but McConnell blocked the Senate from considering his nomination, saying “the American people should have a say in the court’s direction” in the November election.

Garland’s nomination expired after 293 days, allowing Trump to nominate Gorsuch in January 2017.

Thomas, appointed to the court in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush, hasn’t weighed in on the odds he’ll retire this year. Public attention related to the court has focused mostly on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has been hospitalized times multiple times since Trump’s election for issues that have included three broken ribs, pancreatic cancer, and cancerous nodules found in her lungs. The 87-year-old justice announced in January that she was cancer-free, though she visited a hospital again in May for a gallstone.