Trump Floats Another ‘Short List’ of SCOTUS Candidates, Including Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton, and Ted Cruz

Reed RichardsonSep 9th, 2020, 4:56 pm
 

President Donald Trump floated yet another “short list” of Supreme Court candidates on Wednesday — amid a furor about the damning revelations about him in Bob Woodward’s new book — and included on the slate of 20 names were several high-profile far right conservative U.S. senators.

During his daily White House briefing, Trump devoted the bulk of his introductory remarks touting his judicial appointment record and then offering another batch of potential SCOTUS candidates that he would consider nominating if he were to be re-elected in November. Trump had promised in mid-June to release his latest SCOTUS preferences, but had already blown past his self-imposed deadline of Sept. 1.

Notably, the timing of Trump’s announcement came at a nadir in his polling up to that point in 2020. Similarly, in 2016, Trump released not one but two list of potential SCOTUS picks — the first in mid-May, the second in late September — as he was encountering possible Republican defections during the campaign. Trump’s first actual Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, was not on the first list but was on the second, as was Senator Mike Lee (UT). His second SCOTUS nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, was not on either of the 2016 lists.

“Over the next four years, America’s president will choose hundreds of federal judges and in all likelihood one, two, three and even four Supreme Court justices,” Trump noted on Wednesday. “It will determine if we hold to the our principles or whether they’re lost forever. That’s why tomorrow I’m announcing 20 additions to my original list of candidates for the United States Supreme Court. Should there be another vacancy on the Supreme Court during my presidency, my nominee will come from the names I have shared with the American public including original list and these 20 additions.”

Trump then called on Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to release a similar list of potential SCOTUS nominees.

“The 20 additions that I’m announcing today would be jurists in the mold of Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito,” Trump said. In addition to previously listed appellate-level judges like William Pryor, Amy Coney Barrett and Thomas Hardiman, Trump added several acting U.S. Senators like Josh Hawley (MO), Tom Cotton (AR), and Ted Cruz (TX).

The addition of several current politicians’ names drew a mixed reaction from those tapped for possible nomination.

Arkansas’ Cotton put out a brief, strongly anti-abortion statement on Twitter and explicit signaled his interest in the job.

Sen. Cruz’s office put out a press release about his inclusion on the list just three minutes after Trump mentioned his name at the White House briefing, calling it “an immense honor.”

Hawley, however, disavowed any interest in being nominated, saying “Missourians elected me to fight for them in the Senate.”

Trump then finished listing off the names and turned to the press.

“Does anybody have questions on the judges? Anybody? Any questions? They’re outstanding people. Very important decision. Very important that Joe Biden put up potential nominees…” Trump said.

With no takers on his message of the day, Trump finally addressed a reporter.

The first question was about the Woodward book.

Watch the video above, via Fox News

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