Trump wants to anchor the Supreme Court in conservatism

Washington – President Donald Trump will announce his choice for the post of judge of the US Supreme Court on Monday, a judge who is likely to be very conservative and whose decisions will have far-reaching consequences for the evolution of American society .
  

This appointment stems from the unexpected retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, one of the nine senior court sages appointed for life. This will be the second since the president took office who had already chosen a young conservative, Neil Gorsuch, in 2017.

Anxious to offer the maximum resonance to a decision that will particularly satisfy his electoral base, Mr. Trump must announce his choice from the White House at 21H00 local (01H00 GMT Tuesday), an hour of prime time. This schedule forced the major television networks to shake up their programs.

The list of candidates, carefully selected by the conservative organization Federalist Society, was refined by the president who tweeted Saturday " A great decision will be taken soon ".

Three magistrates seem to hold the rope: Brett Kavanaugh, a former adviser to George W. Bush; Amy Coney Barrett, a judge known for her traditional religious values; and Raymond Kethledge, defender of a literal interpretation of the Constitution.

But Mr. Trump could surprise by choosing Thomas Hardiman, a fierce defender of the port of arms, considered an underdog after being finalist against Mr. Gorsuch.

" I will choose someone with impeccable references, a brilliant intellect and a deep reverence for the laws and the Constitution of the United States ," he promised on Friday.

– " Judicial Activism " –

M. Trump rejected the idea of ​​a politicization of the Supreme Court, a criticism reinforced since the high court appointed George W. Bush to the detriment of Al Gore during the imbroglio of the presidential election of 2000.

" We reject judicial activism and political decisions by a court "he said.

The Supreme Court, whose primary mission is to review the constitutionality of laws, decides the important societal debates in the United States, a role played by parliaments in other countries.

Judge Kennedy, 81, played a pivotal role: Conservative on topics such as guns or election financing, he was more progressive on topics such as abortion, affirmative action, or same-bad marriage. .

He often divided his eight peers, four curators (including President John Roberts) and four progressives.

His departure was strongly feared by the Democrats, who feared also a failure of the Dean of the Court, the Progressive Magistrate Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who still sits at 85 years.

Without Kennedy, many now consider that a real danger hangs over various social gains, such as the right to abortion.

– Shift to the right –

" The retirement of Mr. Kennedy causes a shift of the Court " to the right, says for AFP Thomas Lee, Fordham Law School. " Whoever is named, she will be on the right side of President Roberts, who becomes the middle judge ".

With Supreme Court justices often sitting for decades, the stakes are enormous. Mr. Trump has the opportunity to make a lasting impression on the institution of his stamp.

The president deliberately chose relatively young judges: 53 for MM. Kavanaugh and Hardiman, 46 for Ms. Barrett and 51 for Mr. Kethledge.

A conservative court should slash local attempts to regulate firearms, give badurances to conservative Christians, reinforce the supporters of the death penalty, support employers' lobbies and oppose a capping of electoral funding.

The chosen judge to be endorsed by the Senate, Mr. Trump wants to act quickly and take advantage of the short Republican majority in the upper house of Congress, before a risky parliamentary election in November.

But the opposition Democratic intends to mobilize during the vote of confirmation, a process that Mitch McConnell, the leader of Republicans in the Senate, wants to close in the fall.

" President Trump has the duty, vis-à-vis the American people, to appoint a moderate and consensual candidate, not an extremist ," tweeted Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein.