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Republican Senator Mitch McConnell told President Trump last week that Judges Raymond M. Kethledge and Thomas M. Hardiman had the least obvious obstacles to be confirmed to replace Judge Anthony M. Kennedy at Supreme Court, according to
While taking care not to directly defend justice, Mr. McConnell made clear in several phone calls Mr. Trump and White House lawyer Donald F. McGahn II, that the long record written by another competitor, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, would pose difficulties for his confirmation. McConnell is concerned about the volume of documents that Justice Kavanaugh created during his 12 years at the US District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, as well as his roles as Secretary of Staff of the House. White under President George W. Bush and assistant to Kenneth W. Starr, the independent lawyer who investigated President Bill Clinton.
It is said that the number of pages is in millions, which, feared Mr. McConnell, could give the Senate Democrats the opportunity to postpone the vote of confirmation. The new session of the tribunal begins in October, with the mid-term elections that are looming next month. While Judge Kavanaugh's judicial opinions are publicly known, McConnell is worried about challenging Bush-era controversies, officials said about his talks with Trump
]. 50 votes, and Mr. McConnell does not want to draw the ear of his colleague from Kentucky, Senator Rand Paul, who opposed Bush's bellicose policies. The assistants of Mr. Trump and Mr. McConnell declined the requests for comment
. McConnell is also wary of jeopardizing the votes of two moderate Republicans, Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. He told Mr. Trump that he could lose the two senators, who support abortion rights, when he chooses another judge seen as a competitor, Amy Coney Barrett, a social conservative which according to some observers might be more open to overthrow Roe v. Wade Saturday afternoon, Mr. Trump was undecided about his choice – which he said he will reveal in a prime-time speech Monday night – according to three people in contact with him. He went back and forth every few hours between the four options in front of him, Judge Kethledge attracting the least possible attention. This sounds like the way Mr. Trump approached most of his self-imposed deadlines for appointees, switching from one choice to the other almost until the last moment.
Trump, who in recent days has made mocking references to the #MeToo movement at a rally and in private conversations, would be intrigued by the political declaration of choosing a woman. But he also likes Judge Hardiman, whom councilors say Mr. Trump almost picked up in 2017 before choosing Neil M. Gorsuch to fill his first vacancy on the Supreme Court.
The only public statement of the president on the choice of his golf club in Bedminster, NJ, where he spent the weekend. "Great decision will soon be made on our next Supreme Court judge!" He wrote.
Judge Kavanaugh, who was considered the favorite, inspired a broad campaign among supporters, but also a string of critics of some Republicans, who called his decisions in cases of abortion and care insufficiently conservative health. His supporters have made fun of the idea that he is not conservative enough.
Trump's impediments with Judge Kavanaugh relate less to his judicial decisions than his proximity to the Bush family, whose president remains deeply skeptical, according to two people who spoke to him.
Judge Kethledge is a Midwestern man who published conservative decisions on immigration, religion, campaign financing and gun rights. Like Justice Gorsuch, Kethledge J. served as a law clerk for Justice Kennedy. But unlike most contenders at the Supreme Court, he graduated from a law school at a public university of the University of Michigan and spent less time in Washington than many other students. 39; others.
Hardiman J. has earned a reputation as a reliable Conservative. Philadelphia Court of Appeal, where he served alongside one of Mr. Trump's sisters, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, who reportedly recommended Judge Hardiman for the vacant Supreme Court position at the Supreme Court. 39, last year
. McConnell has spoken to Mr. Trump or Mr. McGahn, or both, every day since Judge Kennedy announced on June 27 that he was withdrawing from court. He told them that there was no room for error because the timing of the Senate vote is so close to an election that could entrust the House with control of the Democrats .
Three Democrats from the Senate of the Red State were re-elected the year voted to confirm Judge Gorsuch, and Mr. McConnell hopes that they will support the next candidate. But his advisers say he's ready to get the candidate through Republican votes only – and that's why he's issuing cautionary notes with respect to Judge Kavanaugh and Judge Barrett [19659005]. Mr. McConnell initially hoped that Mr. Trump would choose Amul Thapar, a federal judge of the Court of Appeals who previously sat in Kentucky, but concluded that the President should not name him.
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