The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that Trump is leaning toward Kavanaugh, of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.
On Monday, Mr. Trump had settled on two finalists and was leaning toward Judge Kavanaugh based on what he saw as an impressive academic pedigree and judicial credentials, one person close to the White House said.
Kavanaugh was a former clerk to Justice Kennedy and a former senior White House official under George Bush. Republicans have expressed some reservations about him in recent days because of his past writing on impeachment.
Nearly 20 years ago, Kavanaugh argued that Bill Clinton “could be impeached for lying to his staff and misleading the public, a broad definition of obstruction of justice that would be damaging if applied to President Trump in the Russia investigation,” the New York Times reported over the weekend.
But according to CNN, Trump’s team was interested in some of Kavanaugh’s later writings, in which he questions indicting a sitting president.
Trump SCOTUS team has looked at Kavanaugh's past comments on indicting a sitting president, we've confirmed. In 2009, Kavanaugh wrote: "The indictment and trial of a sitting President, moreover, would cripple the federal government..." https://t.co/rDHJs5RiUY
Conservative commentator Erik Erickson has come around on Kavanaugh in the last few days after some lobbying by the White House.
So late last week I tweeted something critical of Kavanaugh. By the end of the day I'd gotten calls from White House staff, outside people involved in the process, and about a dozen texts from people in and out of the White House defending Kavanaugh.
Judge Amy Coney Barrett, one of Trump’s four finalists to replace Kennedy, was spotted at her home in South Bend, Indiana, less than two hours before the president’s announcement ... in Washington, according to CNN. She was wearing pink shorts and did not appear to be in any sort of a rush to catch a plane to the nation’s capital.
She would not confirm or deny if she’s the president’s choice, CNN said.
Judge Amy Coney Barrett, one of President Trump's possible Supreme Court picks, was just spotted at her home in Indiana. pic.twitter.com/b944lhknQ5
The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs sends this from Washington:
Utah Senator Orrin Hatch spoke to Trump about the nomination about an hour and a half ago, according to a top aide. Hatch has “advocated consistently” for Amy Coney Barrett over the past week but “left that last conversation feeling fairly confident it wouldn’t be Barrett.” However, “until the President makes the announcement official, anything could happen.”
McConnell reportedly told Trump that Barrett would face the hardest path to confirmation and worried that she could alienate two pro-abortion Republicans in the senate.
And then there were eight. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Tonight Donald Trump will make his second nomination to the Supreme Court. His first, Neil Gorsuch, was narrowly approved after Senate Republicans forced through a rule change that eliminated the 60-vote supermajority required to confirm a Supreme Court nominee.
But Trump is bullish on the odds he’ll have more chances to remake the court.
Last year, Axios reported that Trump believes he will appoint as many as four supreme court justices by the end of his first term in office.
According to Axios, citing an anonymous source close to Trump, his predicted Kennedy’s retirement. Then, Trump reportedly reasoned, health issues would take a toll on two other sitting justices. The exchange reportedly went like this:
“Ok,” one source told Trump, “so that’s two. Who are the others?”
“Ginsburg,” Trump replied. “What does she weigh? 60 pounds?”
“Who’s the fourth?” the source asked.
“Sotomayor,” Trump said, referring to the 64-year-old justice appointed by Barack Obama in 2009.
“Her health,” he explained. “No good. Diabetes.”
*It should be noted that this is highly speculative and there is no reason to believe that the justice is in poor health. Sotomayor opened up about her diabetes in 2011.
Senator Susan Collins could be the deciding vote. Photograph: Joshua Roberts/Reuters
Senator Susan Collins , a Maine Republican and a crucial vote who could decide the fate of the nomination, told CNN she was invited to the ceremony tonight but will not attend.
Susan Collins, key swing vote, says she’s not going to WH tonight for SCOTUS event. She says she was invited. She would not comment on any of the four names
Collins is important because she has said she will not support a nominee who would seek to reverse federal protections for women to access abortions.
She told ABC earlier this month that “a candidate for this important position who would overturn Roe v Wade would not be acceptable to me because that would indicate an activist agenda that I don’t want to see a judge have”.
Republicans have a narrow majority, and if Democrats stay united in opposition , a single Republican defection would tank the nomination. Her opposition to a nominee could also help give cover to vulnerable Democrats under pressure to support Trump’s nominee or face accusations of obstructionism from Republicans in their home states.
While we wait, here’s Guardian columnist and former NYT executive editor, Jill Abramson, arguing that “Democrats don’t know how to fight anymore”.
Senate Democrats simply do not know how to wage a bare-knuckle fight any more. Without Nancy Pelosi, I doubt they could have won and saved Obamacare, the last truly important battle they won. ...
[Democrats] have lost the devotion of their party’s core constituencies, especially young voters. These voters are woke and virulently anti-Trump. They abhor police misconduct, endemic sexual harassment, babies snatched from their parents at the border and the rise of white nationalist, fascist forces on the right. These and other causes have awakened them. They just stunned the Democratic party and its establishment supporters with the primary victory in New York of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Senate Democrats need to pay attention and take a page out of Mitch McConnell’s playbook and organize their hearts out, like Ocasio-Cortez. It’s time to fight fire with fire.
Stocks are rising and falling by the millisecond as the hour ticks closer to the 9pm announcement.
Multiple outlets have confirmed that Trump has made his final decision but who it is remains a mystery ... for now.
The Wall Street Journal reported that “allies of judge Hardiman said they had been told to be ready to start touting the one-time taxi driver’s blue-collar roots, in hopes this would resonate with Mr Trump’s supporters”, according to a person familiar with the matter. It paper added the caveat that it wasn’t clear whether backers of the other judges had been similarly told to prepare in the event their candidate was chosen.
Meanwhile, judge Kavanaugh made a not-so-discreet exit from the courthouse where he works.
Buzz at the US courthouse in DC: Brett Kavanaugh spotted leaving in a black sedan accompanied by four black SUVs with security agents presumed to be Secret Service, per source.
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