President Trump Considering Two Women For Next Supreme Court Justice Pick

President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday that he will be ready to announce Supreme Court choice on July 9th and that he is considering two women for the nation’s high court.

When asked on Friday if he plans to ask potential nominees their views on the controversial Roe v. Wade he responded “That’s not a question I’ll be asking,” adding that he thinks that is “inappropriate to discuss.”

President Trump told reporters that he plans to begin interviewing possible candidates as early as Monday but may be meeting with some over the weekend in New Jersey. “It’s a great group of intellectual talent,” Trump said about the candidates currently being considered.

West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin says that he would have a tough time supporting someone who would revamp Roe v. Wade and is encouraging President Donald Trump to not pick any Supreme Court nominee who is openly interested in overturning Roe v. Wade. During an interview on a West Virginia radio station on Friday, Manchin said he had expressed similar feelings to the president about repealing the Affordable Care Act saying, “all that stuff is red flags for all Americans.” “If he picks somebody that’s hardcore on Roe v. Wade or that’s hardcore on repealing healthcare that’s a bigger lift.” Manchin was among several senators who met with Trump at the White House on Thursday. In addition to Joe Manchin,Trump met Thursday with Republicans Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Chuck Grassley and Democrats Joe Donnelly, Heidi Heitkamp.

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“We’re going to pick ourselves one great United States Supreme Court justice to take the place of a great man,” Trump said while in Wisconsin earlier Thursday. Lindsay Walters, White House spokeswoman said that Trump had already begun the process of selecting a new justice, adding that it is “something that the president takes very seriously.” Among other traits, Trump’s pick, she said, would include “tremendous intellect, judicial temperament and impeccable qualifications.”

Trump will draw from a list of 25 prospective candidates established during the campaign and updated this past fall. Possible nominees include Raymond Kethledge, federal appeals court judge who clerked for Kennedy, and Thomas Hardiman, who currently serves alongside Trump’s sister on the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Other possible nominees Brett Kavanaugh, former clerk for Kennedy who is currently serving on the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., Amy Coney Barrett, serving on the federal appeals court in Chicago, and Amul Thapar, currently serving on the federal appeals court in Cincinnati and lives close to McConnell in Kentucky.

On Wednesday, The Judicial Crisis Network launched a seven-figure ad aimed at vulnerable Democrats, said chief counsel and policy director Carrie Severino. The Judicial Crisis Network is a conservative political campaign organization. Severino went on to say that the group spent $10 million supporting the Gorsuch confirmation.
While President Trump is considering his pick, aides will conduct background checks to see if any issues would prevent a potential nominee. The president is scheduled to leave on a presidential trip to Europe on July 10th and he is planning to have made his decision on the 9th before leaving. The hope is to see a new justice confirmed and sworn in before the new court term starts on October 1st, or at least by Election Day on November 6th.