With all the intense interest in the forthcoming nomination to replace Justice Kennedy, and the variety of opinions about who the President will chose, let’s consolidate all that into one thread.

Give your choice, no more than two, who you think the President will nominate. The winner will be announced next Monday, apparently.

The list put out by the White House, after the Gorsuch nomination, includes:

— Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana, 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

— Keith Blackwell of Georgia, Supreme Court of Georgia

— Charles Canady of Florida, Supreme Court of Florida

— Steven Colloton of Iowa, 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

— Allison Eid of Colorado, 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

— Britt Grant of Georgia, Supreme Court of Georgia

— Raymond Gruender of Missouri, 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

— Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

— Brett Kavanaugh of Maryland, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

— Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

— Joan Larsen of Michigan, 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

— Mike Lee of Utah, United States senator

— Thomas Lee of Utah, Supreme Court of Utah

— Edward Mansfield of Iowa, Supreme Court of Iowa

— Federico Moreno of Florida, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

— Kevin Newsom of Alabama, 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

— William Pryor of Alabama, 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

— Margaret Ryan of Virginia, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces

— David Stras of Minnesota, 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

— Diane Sykes of Wisconsin, 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

— Amul Thapar of Kentucky, 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

— Timothy Tymkovich of Colorado, 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

— Robert Young of Michigan, Supreme Court of Michigan (Ret.)

— Don Willett of Texas, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

— Patrick Wyrick of Oklahoma, Supreme Court of Oklahoma

You aren’t limited to these picks, of course, even if Trump thinks he is.

I will go with Kavanaugh or Thapar.

I am very curious to see whom others support and why.

Admittedly, I am woefully ignorant. I do however have a serious man crush on Gorsuch.

There's a lot of speculation about Willett and Hardiman, but if I was advising the president, I would suggest a woman, especially if he is going to appoint a pro-life justice.

First choice: Amy Coney Barrett. Second choice: Britt Grant.

Amy Coney Barrett is my first choice, and Amul Thapar is my second.

I don't have any specific picks but someone with a proven record of being strong on Second Amendment Rights would be very important to me.

Edit: Brett Kavanaugh is on record with a dissent about Second Amendment infringement, so that is a good start for me.

http://www.latimes.com/politic...-20180628-story.html

"Walker cited, as an example, Kavanaugh’s support for the right to own a semiautomatic rifle under the 2nd Amendment. In 2008, the Supreme Court struck down a District of Columbia ordinance that prohibited residents from having a handgun at home. The same plaintiff later claimed the right to possess a semiautomatic weapon, but lost by a 2-1 vote in the D.C. Circuit, Walker noted. Kavanaugh wrote a lengthy dissent arguing that the 2nd Amendment included the right to have such a weapon."

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
I am very curious to see whom others support and why.

Admittedly, I am woefully ignorant. I do however have a serious man crush on Gorsuch.

I'm in the same boat. I don't swim in the right circles to know one judge from the other. I do know I'm a fan of pick #1, I'm pretty confident I'll also like the second selection at well.

I don't care who he picks as long as they rule based on constitution and don't legislate from bench.

quote:

Originally posted by deepocean:
First choice: Amy Coney Barrett.

Is she as good as Gorsuch?

What is the average age of these choices? Based on the length of a supremes term would you trade longevity for a less conservative vote or go for the more strict origionalist with a perhaps shorter tenure?

Just musing. Anyone is better than someone who the left would pick.

Which raises another question - if you get a young judge who's great now, are they more likely to change at some point while on the bench simply because they will eventually spend a lot of time on the bench and in DC? Or does a shorter tenure imply more certainty?

quote:

Originally posted by mbinky:
What is the average age of these choices? Based on the length of a supremes term would you trade longevity for a less conservative vote or go for the more strict origionalist with a perhaps shorter tenure?

Just musing. Anyone is better than someone who the left would pick.

I would not want to see another Kennedy on the court just because he is one of the youngest.

I could be wrong, and in fact often am wrong, but I would suspect that you could sort that list in order of age, youngest first, and be close to the order of selection.

I don't think he is under any particular pressure to select a female because there are already three.

Minority? A Chinese or Japanese name might get some extra points.

His selection for the next vacancy after this, assuming as I do that it will be to fill the place of a very liberal judge, will be very interesting. He may need to save a strong female candidate for that opening.
Whoever gets that selection will be put through a special version of hell.

I cannot se Ginsberg lasting much longer.

quote:

Originally posted by mbinky:
What is the average age of these choices? Based on the length of a supremes term would you trade longevity for a less conservative vote or go for the more strict origionalist with a perhaps shorter tenure?

Just musing. Anyone is better than someone who the left would pick.

IIRC, all are late 40’s to mid 50’s.

I think you can take it as given that all are “strict constructionists” in varying degrees.

I believe all are on wikipedia. Age, schools, where they clerked, judicial experience, etc.

SCOTUSblog is writing up profiles, it looks like one per weekday. She won’t make it around to all 25 obviously, so must be privy to some condensed list, the “shorter” list or something.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by deepocean:
First choice: Amy Coney Barrett.

Is she as good as Gorsuch?

I do not know that for certain, but Franken and others seemed to really not like her. Feinstein and Durbin went after her because of her Catholic beliefs. I'm looking for info on her 2A beliefs.
One article said she unequivocally affirmed judges' duty to the Constitution and the law.

Her writings reflect an originalist view of the Constitution. She clerked for Scalia.

I liked the things written by groups which opposed her nomination to the 7th Circuit.

quote:

Originally posted by deepocean:

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by deepocean:
First choice: Amy Coney Barrett.

Is she as good as Gorsuch?

I do not know that for certain, but Franken and others seemed to really not like her. Feinstein and Durbin went after her because of her Catholic beliefs. I'm looking for info on her 2A beliefs.
One article said she unequivocally affirmed judges' duty to the Constitution and the law.

Her writings reflect an originalist view of the Constitution. She clerked for Scalia.

I've been trying to gleam more of how she feels specifically about the 2nd amendment, but it's pretty sparse. Having said that, she sounds excellent. And she's very young.

When it comes to the 2nd amendment, Kavanaugh seems to be the man, at least for the top contenders. Though I admittedly haven't looked at all of them.

Hmmm, what to do, what to do...Trump certainly has some thinking to do.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:


Hmmm, what to do, what to do...Trump certainly has some thinking to do.

It’s his job, and he wanted it!

Here’s an article discussing some of them. http://thefederalist.com/2018/...ely-replace-kennedy/

Amy Coney Barrett

Balze, I agree with what you are saying about Kavanaugh. I find it interesting Barrett was grilled for her belief the Court should not be bound by prior precedent if prior precedent does not square with the Constitution. There is a lot more to her opinions about that. It was interesting to read her mention Justice Scalia described himself as a "faint-hearted originalist."

Here is a link to a page that has a number of selected journal articles written by Amy Coney Barrett:

https://works.bepress.com/amy_barrett/

Does the White House vet for physical health?

It would be a shame to get someone in there with a short life expectancy despite being relatively young.

1. Barrett
2. Willett