Trump narrows U.S. Supreme Court list, to name nominee July 9

[rooster59]

Trump narrows U.S. Supreme Court list, to name nominee July 9

By Jeff Mason and Richard Cowan

 

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks celebrating six months since his tax cuts victory in Washington, D.C., June 29, 2018.  REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque 

 

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he plans to announce his nominee to replace retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on July 9, and that he has narrowed his list of candidates.

 

"I've got it down to about five," Trump said, including two women.

 

He would not identify the candidates by name. "It's a great group of intellectual talent ... they are generally conservative," Trump said.

 

When asked about several specific potential nominees mentioned in recent days, including federal jurists Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, and U.S. Senator Mike Lee from Utah, Trump said each was "outstanding."

 

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Washington to his private golf club in New Jersey, Trump said he may interview two contenders for the nomination this weekend.

 

Trump said he not will push the candidates to say whether they would overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which established a woman's right to abortion.

 

"That's not a question I'll be asking," he said.

 

He also said he would not discuss gay rights with the candidates, and that he might interview as many as seven people.

 

While Kennedy was a conservative, he proved to be a somewhat unpredictable "swing" vote over his long career. For example, he sided with the court's liberals by voting in favour of abortion rights and gay rights in key cases. Views on abortion was expected to be one that senators will ask the new nominee about in confirmation hearings, even if the president does not.

 

Trump's nominee must win confirmation by the Senate. Republicans control the chamber but only by a slim majority, making the views of moderates, including some Democrats, important.

 

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Friday he hoped the confirmation process would be done "in time for the new justice to begin the fall term of the Supreme Court ... the first Monday in October.”

 

White House aide Marc Short said on MSNBC that the White House hoped for a Senate confirmation vote in September.

 

That would put a new justice in place before the congressional midterm elections in November, when all seats in the House of Representatives and a third of those in the Senate will be contested.

 

Trump met on Thursday with senators from both parties at the White House to discuss the court vacancy created by the retirement of Kennedy, which was announced on Wednesday.

 

Kennedy's replacement could cast a deciding vote on limiting or ending the right to abortion.

 

"I do not apply ideological litmus tests to nominees, but I want to see integrity, intellect, a respect for precedent and adherence to the rule of law," moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins told Reuters when asked about Roe v. Wade.

 

Collins, who favours a woman's right to choose on abortion, joined like-minded Republican Lisa Murkowski at the White House meeting. Also attending were Republican Charles Grassley and Democrats Joe Manchin, Joe Donnelly and Heidi Heitkamp.

 

Democrat Bill Nelson, asked by reporters if a nominee’s views on Roe v. Wade will be important to him, said, “very."

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-06-30

[Andaman Al]

The Circus just got a huge extension right before the interval and I am tired watching. Kennedy knew exactly what he was doing, he knew the turmoil this would cause and could easily have retired in Nov/Dec. He is a disgrace.

[Andaman Al]

Just to add some meat to the bones on my comment above.

 

Quote

DONALD TRUMP MADE JUSTICE KENNEDY AN OFFER HE COULDN’T REFUSE

 

Clearing the swamp?  Yeah right!

 

Quote

 But first, Trump had to demonstrate to Kennedy that he could be trusted to nominate quality jurists to the Supreme Court. The campaign was multifaceted: over the course of several months, Trump systematically nominated three of Kennedy’s former clerks for plum judicial posts. While he criticized other, more conservative members of the court, he lavished praise on Kennedy—despite the fact that the justice has been pilloried by the right for his votes on social issues. And he cultivated a relationship with Justice Kennedy’s son, Justin, who worked closely with the Trump Organization in his role at Deutsche Bank as the global head of real-estate capital markets, according to the Times

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/06/donald-trump-justice-anthony-kennedy-retirement

 

Seems the "failing New York Times" keeps coming up Trumps with it's investigative work.

 

Kennedy is the latest high profile figure to be conned by the Criminal In Chief and he will live out the remainder of his retirement truly regretting what he has done.......Good!

[Boon Mee]

All 9 individuals on Trump's list are infinity qualified although the name Mike Lee is head and shoulders above the rest. 

[Chomper Higgot]

5 hours ago, Andaman Al said:

The Circus just got a huge extension right before the interval and I am tired watching. Kennedy knew exactly what he was doing, he knew the turmoil this would cause and could easily have retired in Nov/Dec. He is a disgrace.

Don’t assume he had a choice in the matter.

[Chomper Higgot]

59 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

All 9 individuals on Trump's list are infinity qualified although the name Mike Lee is head and shoulders above the rest. 

Nobody is (infinitely) qualified.

 

But ofcourse they may be ‘extremely’ qualified and I fully expect Trump’s pick will be.

[Basil B]

This should be interesting...

 

Who else apart from the POTUS could be anti abortion yet support no gun control???

 

If he is looking for a like minded person maybe he should start with the occupants of lunatic asylums 

[jackh]

Gettin er done! Won't be long now. MAGA moving ahead and Dem can slow it down a little, but it ain't stopping.

 

[pornprong]

What a mess the US has got itself into.

A huge anti-science, anti-progress, anti-reason, anti-logic mess.

The Republican party has continued to become more and more extremist in order to survive the dwindling of it's supporter base.

Fake news, fanatical religiosity and unrestricted access to guns is not a sound base upon which to advance a nation.

America is broken, China is rising.

The only way for the sanity to return is for the country to find it's way back to the fork in the road taken under the leadership of Reagan and simply go the other way.

[Jingthing]

45 minutes ago, jackh said:

Gettin er done! Won't be long now. MAGA moving ahead and Dem can slow it down a little, but it ain't stopping.

 

Yeah, sure, MAWA moving "ahead" and over a cliff. 

[Chomper Higgot]

26 minutes ago, pornprong said:

What a mess the US has got itself into.

A huge anti-science, anti-progress, anti-reason, anti-logic mess.

The Republican party has continued to become more and more extremist in order to survive the dwindling of it's supporter base.

Fake news, fanatical religiosity and unrestricted access to guns is not a sound base upon which to advance a nation.

America is broken, China is rising.

The only way for the sanity to return is for the country to find it's way back to the fork in the road taken under the leadership of Reagan and simply go the other way.

And it was indeed Regan who set the GOP off on this destructive course.

[sirineou]

 What's the matter, Kennedy could not wait a couple of months? 

[Jonah Tenner]

1 hour ago, pornprong said:

What a mess the US has got itself into.

A huge anti-science, anti-progress, anti-reason, anti-logic mess.

The Republican party has continued to become more and more extremist in order to survive the dwindling of it's supporter base.

Fake news, fanatical religiosity and unrestricted access to guns is not a sound base upon which to advance a nation.

America is broken, China is rising.

The only way for the sanity to return is for the country to find it's way back to the fork in the road taken under the leadership of Reagan and simply go the other way.

This is not new: 

"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.""

Isaac Asimov, Column in Newsweek (21 January 1980)

 

"Unreason and anti-intellectualism abominate thought. Thinking implies disagreement; and disagreement implies nonconformity; and nonconformity implies heresy; and heresy implies disloyalty — so, obviously, thinking must be stopped. But shouting is not a substitute for thinking and reason is not the subversion but the salvation of freedom."

Adlai Stevenson, A Call to Greatness (1954)

 

This started long before Reagan, even before Nixon.

[Andaman Al]

45 minutes ago, sirineou said:

 What's the matter, Kennedy could not wait a couple of months? 

Precisely!

 

Read the article in my post above (No 3) the whole thing stinks of really smelly stinky stuff.

[Expatthailover]

Well if it is intellectual talent it will be no one in his immediate circle

[jimmyyy]

Wish he would announce on the 4th of July would save me some money on fireworks, i could just turn into the leftist media and get all the fireworks needed.  But alas he chose the 9th.

[kbelyeu]

10 hours ago, Andaman Al said:

The Circus just got a huge extension right before the interval and I am tired watching. Kennedy knew exactly what he was doing, he knew the turmoil this would cause and could easily have retired in Nov/Dec. He is a disgrace.

He knew exactly what he was doing #MAGA

[Andaman Al]

36 minutes ago, kbelyeu said:

He knew exactly what he was doing #MAGA

As I said

" Kennedy knew exactly what he was doing"

 

If you think this is the appropriate conduct that a SCOTUS Judge with a lifetime appointment should display then you are the perfect type of swamp creature for Trumps mega swamp. Good look to you. The only thing a man can take to the grave with him is his name, his integrity. What will you and others like you take, as team Trump and the supporter base have no integrity - not one of them.

 

It is quite sickening watching the Republican congressmen question and rant and rave at Rosenstein at the congressional hearing on Thurs/Fri. Having watched their lying incompetent performance I would not employ any of them on any job at all. Swamp creatures cannot survive outside a swamp, what will become of you all when the swamp is cleansed?

[zaphod reborn]

8 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

All 9 individuals on Trump's list are infinity qualified although the name Mike Lee is head and shoulders above the rest. 

Trump only has a 1 issue litmus test: get me off the impending Russiagate charges.  He doesn't care about anything else.  The presidency has always been about him, not America.

[Jingthing]

Trump only has a 1 issue litmus test: get me off the impending Russiagate charges.  He doesn't care about anything else.  The presidency has always been about him, not America.

I agree that is his top priority. But he can get much more. Bye bye abortion rights, same sex marriage, voting rights act, gerrymandering reform, labor rights, health care civil rights, and the list goes on.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Tug]

He will pick the one he thinks is loyal to him and will bail him out whoever will help him bust unions impoverish and weaken the middle class weakend serfs are easyer to rule it’s the Putin playbook

[Jonnapat]

14 hours ago, Andaman Al said:

The Circus just got a huge extension right before the interval and I am tired watching. Kennedy knew exactly what he was doing, he knew the turmoil this would cause and could easily have retired in Nov/Dec. He is a disgrace.

A disgrace and a Trump puppet.

[Chou Anou]

4 hours ago, kbelyeu said:

He knew exactly what he was doing #MAGA

 

[sirineou]

9 hours ago, Andaman Al said:

Precisely!

 

Read the article in my post above (No 3) the whole thing stinks of really smelly stinky stuff.

I remember when Bill Clinton was running for the democratic nomination, Mario Cuomo the Governor of NY then was totally against him, did not have a good thing to say about him. Bill Clinton came to NY and had a behind closed doors meeting with Mario Cuomo, after the meeting they came out and were best friends, the rest of the campaign , according, to Mario Cuomo, Bill Clinton was the second coming of the mesaia!  Bill Clinton wins NY , wins the nomination, and in the General election wins the Presidency.

When Bill Clinton was looking for the best people to form his cabinet, Guess who was the best person to head HUD?  Andrew Cuomo, son of Mario Cuomo and  now governor of NY.

Such are politics

But then we have the supreme court of the USA which is supposed to be above politics. I love to have being a fly on the wall at the Kennedy Trump meeting. Are you familiar of Trump's relationship with Justin Kennedy , Anthony Kennedy's son? who worked on a senior level at  Deutsche Bank, and lend Trump as much as a Billion dollars when no one else would and saved Trump from going under during the darkest hours of the Great Recession. 

Stacking the Supreme court with Trump appointees might be Trump's only salvation, and not too bad for Justin Kennedys future.

[jerojero]

Really feel sorry for the American people. The upcoming ultra conservative S Court will kill progress and social justice. Welcome to America's dark ages.

[Andaman Al]

13 minutes ago, jerojero said:

Welcome to America's dark ages.

That is exactly the idea that came into my head last night, I was thinking that the US were entering a dark age. Wasn't the European dark age fueled by religious zealots and men grasping for absolute power.

 

The immigration problem will stop soon enough as people realize the USA is no longer the place to go, in fact the irony will be other countries having to accept refugees from the USA