Trump releases list of possible Supreme Court nominees

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, facing doubts within his party over whom he would nominate to fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s spot on the U.S. Supreme Court, provided the Associated Press with a list of 11 names today. Back in March when Trump first promised to give a list of his possible nominees, he swore to name “great conservative judges, great intellects, the people that you want.”

On this list, he kept that promise, picking largely respected—but undoubtedly conservative—judges, according to cursory research and brief conversations with conservative lawyers. Most of the judges work in the Midwest, not typically the demographic that ascends to the high court. Also in terms of demographics, all the potential nominees are white. Six of the picks serve on federal appeals courts, and all six are appointees of former President George W. Bush. The other five serve on state Supreme Courts.

The list is as follows: Steven Colloton of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Allison Eid of the Colorado Supreme Court, Raymond Gruender of the 8th Circuit, Thomas Hardiman of the 3rd Circuit, Raymond Kethledge of the 6th Circuit, Thomas Lee of the Utah Supreme Court, David Stras of the Minnesota Supreme Court, Diane Sykes, of the 7th Circuit, Joan Larsen of the Michigan Supreme Court, William Pryor of the 11th Circuit, and Don Willett of the Texas Supreme Court.

Trump has often made contradictory promises to please various constituencies—for example, telling a gay publication he would advance gay rights while telling Republicans he would work to overturn the same-sex marriage ruling. So the question on Republicans’ minds will be whether President Trump would indeed make a nomination from this list. Either way, it’s a list that is majority Bush nominees, so it should please party members.

Several of the federal judges have ruled in favor of the for-profit and non-profit groups challenging Obamacare’s contraceptive and abortifacient mandate—that includes Colloton, Sykes, and Pryor.

Sykes wrote a 2006 decision supporting the Christian Legal Society (CLS) after it lost its student organization status over its standards of conduct. CLS later lost a similar case at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Pryor has openly criticized the Roe v. Wade decision, calling it one of the ”worst examples of judicial activism.” He said the court “created out of thin air a constitutional right to murder an unborn child.”

President Barack Obama appointed Pryor, a former attorney general in Alabama, to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. When Pryor was attorney general, he successfully prosecuted Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore for refusing to follow a federal order to remove the Ten Commandments from the state courthouse.

Eid and Lee clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas, Kethledge clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy, and Larsen clerked for Scalia. Larsen delivered a eulogy at Scalia’s memorial service in Washington, D.C., and wrote that it would be “difficult to imagine anyone filling that gap.”

Some of the possible nominees themselves might not be excited about Trump. Willett, for example, has a popular Twitter account and he has relentlessly poked fun at Trump. “Donald Trump haiku,” he wrote last summer. ”Who would the Donald / Name to SCOTUS? The mind reels. / *weeps—can’t finish tweet*”

Trump’s list, however, is missing some of the biggest conservative legal stars, like former Solicitor General Paul Clement, U.S. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and former U.S. Circuit Judge Michael McConnell, among others.

The Judicial Crisis Network’s Carrie Severino, who has led staunch opposition to the confirmation of Obama Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, said the list was “encouraging to anyone who prioritizes the rule of law.” She added that it is “heartening to see so many Midwesterners and state court judges on the list—they would bring a valuable perspective to the bench, particularly since they have already served on a court of last resort in their own states.”