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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 6, 2018
Trump closes in on
Supreme Court nod
Conservatives
eager to shape
highest court
By CATHERINE
LUCEY, KEN THOMAS
and LISA MASCARO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
President Donald Trump
is closing in on his next
Supreme Court nominee,
with three federal judges
leading the competition
to replace retiring Justice
Anthony Kennedy.
Trump’s top contend-
ers for the vacancy at this
time are federal appeals
judges Amy Coney Barrett,
Brett Kavanaugh and Ray-
mond Kethledge, said a per-
son familiar with Trump’s
thinking who was not autho-
rized to speak publicly.
Working closely with a
White House team and con-
sulting with lawmakers and
outside advisers, Trump has
spent the week deliberat-
ing on the choice. He con-
ducted interviews on Mon-
day and Tuesday. He has not
yet publicly indicated that
he has narrowed the list and
could still consider others in
the mix.
With customary fanfare,
Trump plans to announce
his selection Monday
night, kicking off a conten-
tious nomination process as
Republicans seek to shift
the court to the right and
Democrats strive to block
the effort.
Vice President Mike
Pence has also met with
some of the contenders for
the Supreme Court vacancy
created by Justice Anthony
Kennedy’s
retirement,
The Associated Press has
learned.
The meetings took place
in recent days, according to
a person familiar with the
search process. The person
did not specify which can-
didates Pence met with and
spoke on condition of ano-
nymity to describe the pri-
vate search process.
Trump is choosing his
nominee from a list of 25
candidates vetted by con-
servative groups. Ear-
lier in the week, he spoke
with seven people on the
list. Other contenders that
have received serious inter-
est include federal appeals
judges
Amul
Thapar,
Thomas Hardiman and Joan
Larsen.
The president also spoke
by phone with Republican
U.S. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah
on Monday. He’s the only
lawmaker on Trump’s list.
That call was not character-
ized by the White House as
an interview and Lee is not
viewed as a top prospect,
though he has some support
on Capitol Hill.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz,
R-Texas, advocated for Lee
in a Fox News op-ed, warn-
ing Trump not to repeat
“mistakes” of past Repub-
lican presidents by picking
a Supreme Court nominee
who turns out to be insuffi-
ciently conservative.
Cruz said Lee would be
a “sure thing.” He cited for-
mer justices William Bren-
nan, John Paul Stevens
and Harry Blackmun, who
authored the Roe v. Wade
decision that established a
woman’s right to abortion.
All three were nominated
by Republican presidents.
Trump’s
choice
to
replace Kennedy — a swing
vote on the nine-member
court — has the potential
to remake the court for a
generation as part of prece-
dent-shattering decisions on
abortion, health care, gay
marriage and other issues.
Recognizing the stakes,
many Democrats have lined
up in opposition to any
Trump pick, and Republi-
can lawmakers and activists
are seeking to influence the
president’s decision.
Justice Ginsburg bemoans
partisan divide in Congress
The 85-year-old Ginsburg
was just the second female
Supreme Court justice and
JERUSALEM — U.S. often cites her Jewish heri-
Supreme Court Justice Ruth tage as a source for her love
Bader Ginsburg said Thurs- of learning and sensitivity to
day she hoped the traditional the plight of minorities.
“bipartisan spirit” of congres-
“RBG” has added to her
sional hearings for judges will unlikely status as pop cul-
once again prevail in Wash- ture icon, first created by the
ington, D.C., rather than the 2015 book, “Notorious RBG:
votes of recent years that have The Life and Times of Ruth
mostly divided along party Bader Ginsburg.” The docu-
mentary traces her legal work
lines.
Speaking at a Jerusalem advancing rights for women
cinema after the screening of leading up to her 1993 eleva-
“RBG,” the breakout hit doc- tion to the top court, and her
umentary about her life and role as a justice since — and
career, Ginsburg said
also touches on the
she would not address
cultural phenome-
non that has ensued,
past or present per-
sonnel changes on
including bobblehead
the court, in apparent
dolls, tattoos, T-shirts
reference to Justice
and coffee mugs
Anthony Kennedy’s
bearing her likeness
upcoming retirement.
that have become
Ruth Bader
But the liberal icon
hipster staples. A
Ginsburg
did bemoan how par-
Hollywood biopic is
tisan the process of
also slated for release
picking a justice has become. later this year.
“I was considered by
As the court’s senior lib-
some a controversial per- eral justice, Ginsburg spoke
son because of my affiliation warily about a Donald Trump
with the American Civil Lib- presidency before the 2016
erties Union,” she said about election. “I don’t want to think
her 1993 confirmation hear- about that possibility, but if it
ings. “There wasn’t a single should be, then everything is
question asked of me during up for grabs,” she said.
the hearings about my ACLU
She later also apologized
connections. The vote was for calling Trump a “faker.”
96-3.
In Jerusalem, she steered
“When Justice (Stephen) clear of any such references,
Breyer was nominated the focusing instead on how the
next year the vote for him was court could bring even ideo-
also in the 90s. Since then the logical opposites together.
Senate has tended to divide She spoke about her unlikely
along party lines and I think friendship with the late Jus-
that’s unfortunate,” she con- tice Antonin Scalia, a conser-
tinued. “During my confir- vative stalwart.
mation hearings, perhaps my
“I miss him very much,”
biggest supporter was Orrin she said.
Hatch, the Republican sena-
Ginsburg appeared in her
tor from Utah. I hope some- trademark glasses and pony-
day we will get back to the tail, a blue-and-white shawl
bipartisan spirit prevailing draped over her shoulders.
with respect to the confirma- With three retired Israeli
tion of judges.”
Supreme Court judges in the
Ginsburg is in Israel to audience, she spoke about
receive a lifetime achieve- how much progress women
ment award from the Gene- have made in her lifetime and
sis Prize Foundation, a prom- how her own Judaism has
inent Jewish organization. inspired her sense of justice.
By ARON HELLER
Associated Press
Who are Trump’s top
Supreme Court picks?
By ANNE FLAHERTY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
President Donald Trump’s
Supreme Court nomination
is expected on Monday, with
three federal judges lead-
ing the pack. Here’s a look at
who they are (plus three more
who haven’t been completely
counted out just yet):
AMY CONEY
BARRETT
Barrett, 46, was a former
law clerk to Justice Antonin
Scalia and a longtime Notre
Dame Law School professor
who became a federal judge
last fall.
If nominated and con-
firmed, she would become
the fourth female justice on
the nine-member court and
its youngest member (Jus-
tice Neil Gorsuch is now
the youngest, turning 51 this
August.)
Barrett is considered
Trump’s
most
divisive
choice, both because of her
sparse record on the bench
and because of her conserva-
tive religious views.
At a U.S. Senate hearing
last year on her nomination to
the Chicago-based 7th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals,
Democrats peppered Bar-
rett on whether her Roman
Catholic faith would inter-
fere with her work. Demo-
crats cited a 1998 paper in
which she argued that Cath-
olic judges might need to
recuse themselves in death
penalty cases.
Democratic U.S. Sen.
Dianne Feinstein of Califor-
nia told Barrett that dogma
and law are two differ-
ent things and she was con-
cerned “that the dogma lives
loudly within you.” Barrett
was eventually confirmed
after telling senators that her
views had since broadened.
She said it was never permis-
sible for a judge to “follow
their personal convictions in
the decision of a case, rather
than what the law requires.”
A White House question-
naire last year cited Barrett
as once writing abortion is
“always immoral” and asked
if that was still her view.
She didn’t answer the ques-
tion directly but said: “If I
am confirmed, my views on
this or any other question
will have no bearing on the
discharge of my duties as a
judge.”
During her 2017 con-
firmation hearing, Barrett
described each of her seven
children, noting that two
were adopted from Haiti.
BRETT
KAVANAUGH
Kavanaugh, 53, is a
Yale-educated appellate court
judge for the U.S. Court of
Appeals District of Columbia
Circuit who clerked for retir-
ing Justice Anthony Kennedy
and is probably best known
for his ties to President
George W. Bush.
Kavanaugh also was
key member of indepen-
dent counsel Kenneth Starr’s
team that produced the report
that served as the basis for
President Bill Clinton’s
impeachment.
But he’s attracting the
most attention for his view
that presidents shouldn’t be
bothered with legal inquiries.
In a 2009 article in The Min-
nesota Law Review, Kava-
naugh wrote that presidents
are under such extraordi-
nary pressure they “should
be excused from some of the
burdens of ordinary citizen-
ship while serving in office.”
Congress, he wrote,
should pass a law that would
temporarily protect the presi-
dent from both civil suits and
criminal prosecution. Clin-
ton, for example, “could have
focused on Osama bin Laden
without being distracted
by the Paula Jones sexual
harassment case and its crim-
inal investigation offshoots,”
Amy Coney Barrett
Raymond Kethledge
Brett Kavanaugh
Kavanaugh wrote.
“If the president does
something dastardly, the
impeachment process is
available,” Kavanaugh wrote.
That kind of think-
ing could prove helpful to
Trump, who has been dogged
by accusations of sexual
harassment, as well as pos-
sible obstruction of justice in
the Russia probe now being
led by special counsel Rob-
ert Mueller.
But Kavanaugh’s ties to
Washington (he was born in
D.C.) and the GOP establish-
ment could hurt his chances
too, as Trump’s populist sup-
porters clamor for an outsider
and Democrats pan him as a
political operative. (When
he was confirmed to the fed-
eral appeals court in D.C. in
2006, Bush took the unusual
step of hosting a Rose Gar-
den swearing-in ceremony
with 120 guests to celebrate.)
His
judicial
biogra-
phy includes his times in
two Boston Marathons, his
coaching experience for his
two daughters’ basketball
teams and his regular partici-
pation in services at a Catho-
lic church in Washington.
RAYMOND
KETHLEDGE
can U.S. Sen. Spencer Abra-
ham of Michigan, who
became Bush’s energy sec-
retary. Kethledge eventu-
ally founded a boutique liti-
gation firm with two partners
in Troy, Michigan. He was
nominated to the 6th Circuit
Court of Appeals in 2006 and
confirmed in 2008.
Kethledge’s judicial opin-
ions have occasionally made
news. In 2013, he ruled
against unions and upheld
a Michigan law that bars
school districts from collect-
ing membership dues from
teachers and other employ-
ees, leaving unions to collect
the dues themselves.
In 2014, he ruled against
the federal Equal Employ-
ment Opportunity Com-
mission in a case it brought
against a for-profit educa-
tion company over its credit
checks on potential employ-
ees, noting the EEOC per-
formed the same checks. And
in 2016 he wrote that police
didn’t need a warrant to look
at records that reveal where
a cellphone user has been, a
decision the Supreme Court
overturned in a 5-4 ruling
earlier this year.
Kethledge, 51, is a for-
mer Kennedy law clerk and
appeals court judge who
graduated from the Uni-
versity of Michigan and its
law school. He serves as a
judge on the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the 6th Circuit in
Cincinnati.
He co-authored a book
with Army veteran Mike
Erwin of The Positivity Proj-
ect published last year called
“Lead Yourself First: Inspir-
ing Leadership Through Sol-
itude,” in which he describes
himself as an introvert. In an
interview with the legal news
site “Above the Law,” Keth-
ledge said “I love to write”
and prefers working from
his barn office in northern
Michigan overlooking Lake
Huron without an internet
connection.
He was at that office when
his wife called to tell him she
had seen on television that he
was on Trump’s short list of
nominees to replace Scalia,
a job that eventually went to
Justice Neil Gorsuch.
In the 1990s, Kethledge
was counsel to Republi-