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Trump unveils list of his top Supreme Court picks

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this May 7, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Spokane, Wash. Trump is moving quickly to install political operatives in more than a dozen states, targeting Maine and Minnesota among others that traditionally favor Democrats, as the Republican White House contender lays the groundwork for an expanded electoral battlefield.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. >> Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, has released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices he plans to vet to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia if he’s elected to the White House.

Trump’s picks include Steven Colloton of Iowa, Allison Eid of Colorado and Raymond Gruender of Missouri.

Also on the list are: Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, Joan Larsen of Michigan, Thomas Lee of Utah, William Pryor of Alabama, David Stras of Minnesota, Diane Sykes of Wisconsin and Don Willett of Texas. Trump had previously named Pryor and Sykes as examples of kind of justices he would choose.

The news comes as Trump is working to bring together a fractured Republican Party and earn the trust of skill-skeptical establishment Republicans who question his electability in the general election and conservatives in his party still weary of his commitment to their cause.

In a statement, Trump said the list “is representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value” and said that, as president, he would use it “as a guide to nominate our next United States Supreme Court Justices.”

His campaign stressed the list was compiled “first and foremost, based on constitutional principles, with input from highly respected conservatives and Republican Party leadership.”

Trump first said in March that he planned to release the list of five to 10 judges in an effort to ease concerns about his conservative credentials, which had come under attack in the heated Republican primary.

“I am going to give a list of either five or 10 judges that I will pick, 100 percent pick, that I will put in for nomination. Because some of the people that are against me say: ‘We don’t know if he’s going to pick the right judge. Supposing he picks a liberal judge or supposing he picks a pro-choice judge,’” Trump said at an event in Palm Beach, Florida.

He said then the list would include judges “that everybody respects, likes and totally admires” — “great conservative judges, great intellects, the people that you want.”

The vow marked a rare moment of acknowledgment by Trump that he could be doing more to appease those in his party opposed his candidacy.

Trump had said he would like to appoint judges in the mold of deeply conservative as Scalia, who died in February.

In the statement, he described Scalia as “a remarkable person and a brilliant Supreme Court Justice.”

“His career was defined by his reverence for the Constitution and his legacy of protecting Americans’ most cherished freedoms,” he added. “He was a justice who did not believe in legislating from the bench and he is a person whom I held in the highest regard and will always greatly respect his intelligence and conviction to uphold the Constitution of our country.”

7 responses to “Trump unveils list of his top Supreme Court picks”

  1. shawnchun says:

    isn’t this a classic case of “counting your chickens before they hatch?”

    • sarge22 says:

      Doubtful. Trump just pulled ahead of Clinton in the polls and he hasn’t even started on Hillary. Good job Bernie.

      • shawnchun says:

        yes it is. it’s like cruz choosing fiorina as vp. where did this go to?

        aint gonna happen.

        madame president hillary will choose the next 4 vacancies in the supreme court. but unlike trump, she will state them when she is in the wh.

      • advertiser1 says:

        Do you actually know anything about any of the potential nominees?

  2. JoyinHI says:

    Holy crap — Scalia did not protect Americans’ most cherished freedoms. Our most cherished freedom is equal protection — his opinions showed that he believed equal protection was for only some. He was a justice who did legislate from the bench and based it on his religious beliefs not the Constitution. He wrote contradictory opinions and twisted his words into pretzels to justify his legislating.

  3. 808comp says:

    Watch out Trump is looking to live in the W I think by the time the Democratic convention rolls around

    • 808comp says:

      Entered in error.
      Trump looking to live in the White House. By the time the Democratic Convention ends i think the front runner will be Sanders when the Super Delegates whose for Clinton will change sides.So all the Clinton naysayers have no worriers. A scary ending will be when they announce President Donald Trump. Trump or Sanders don’t think any of them will deliver on what they promise to do.

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