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Note: Ginsburg also received an [[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]] from [[Columbia University]]. Gorsuch also received a [[Doctor of Philosophy|DPhil]] from [[University College, Oxford]].
Note: Gorsuch also received a [[Doctor of Philosophy|DPhil]] from [[University College, Oxford]].


==Neil Gorsuch nomination==
==Neil Gorsuch nomination==

Revision as of 14:31, 12 April 2017

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With the advice and consent of the United States Senate, the President of the United States appoints the members of the Supreme Court of the United States, which is the highest court of the federal judiciary of the United States. Following his victory in the 2016 presidential election, Republican Donald Trump took office as president on January 20, 2017, and Trump faced an immediate vacancy on the Supreme Court due to the February 2016 death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. During the 2016 campaign, Trump released two lists of potential nominees to the Supreme Court. After taking office, Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to succeed Scalia on January 31, 2017, and Gorsuch was confirmed on April 7, 2017.

Court composition

See also: List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States

Trump began his term in January 2017 with a vacancy to be filled as a result of the February 2016 death of Justice Antonin Scalia and the subsequent opinion of Senate Republicans that the new president should appoint Scalia's replacement. Three of the Court's justices—Ruth Bader Ginsburg (born 1933), Anthony Kennedy (born 1936) and Stephen Breyer (born 1938)—are or will soon turn 80, a fact that has stoked speculation that additional vacancies may occur during Trump's four-year presidential term.[1]

The Supreme Court is composed of the following nine justices:

Name Age Serving since Appointed by Law School (JD or LLB)
John Roberts
(Chief Justice) 		69 2005 George W. Bush Harvard University
Anthony Kennedy 88 1988 Ronald Reagan Harvard University
Clarence Thomas 76 1991 George H. W. Bush Yale University
Ruth Bader Ginsburg 91 1993 Bill Clinton Columbia University[note 1]
Stephen Breyer 86 1994 Bill Clinton Harvard University
Samuel Alito 74 2006 George W. Bush Yale University
Sonia Sotomayor 70 2009 Barack Obama Yale University
Elena Kagan 64 2010 Barack Obama Harvard University
Neil Gorsuch 57 2017 Donald Trump Harvard University

Note: Gorsuch also received a DPhil from University College, Oxford.

Neil Gorsuch nomination

Main article: Neil Gorsuch Supreme Court nomination

On February 13, 2016, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead while vacationing at Cibolo Creek Ranch near Marfa, Texas.[2] Scalia's death marked just the second time in sixty years that a sitting Supreme Court Justice died.[3] It led to a rare Supreme Court nomination during the last year of a presidency.

Mitch McConnell (Senate majority leader) stated the new President should replace Scalia, while President Obama stated that he planned to nominate someone to replace Scalia on the Supreme Court.[4] On February 23, the eleven Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee signed a letter to McConnell stating their intention to withhold consent on any nominee made by President Obama, and that no hearings would occur until after January 20, 2017, when the new president took office.[5][6] On March 16, 2016, Obama nominated then-Chief Judge Merrick Garland (of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit), to replace Scalia.[7] After Garland's nomination, McConnell reiterated his position that the Senate would not consider any Supreme Court nomination until a new president took office.[7] Garland's nomination expired on January 3, 2017, with the 114th Senate having taken no action on the nomination.[8]

During his 2016 presidential campaign, while Garland remained before the Senate, Trump released two lists of potential nominees. On May 18, 2016, Trump released a short list of eleven judges for nomination to the Scalia vacancy.[9] On September 23, 2016, Trump released a second list of ten possible nominees, this time including three minorities.[10] Both lists were assembled by the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation.[11] Days after Trump's inauguration, Politico named three individuals as the front-runners for Scalia's position: Neil Gorsuch, Thomas Hardiman and Bill Pryor, with Trump reportedly later narrowing his list down to Gorsuch and Hardiman.[12][13] At the time of the nomination, Gorsuch, Hardiman, and Pryor were all federal appellate judges who were appointed by President George W. Bush.[14] Trump and White House Counsel Don McGahn interviewed those three individuals as well as Judge Amul Thapar of the U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Kentucky in the weeks before the nomination.[11] President Trump announced Gorsuch as his nominee on January 31.[15][11] Gorsuch was confirmed by the United States Senate in a 54-45 vote.[16] Gorsuch will be sworn in as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on April 10.

Possible nominees

Below is a list of individuals who have been mentioned in various news accounts as the most likely potential nominees for a Supreme Court appointment under Trump, or were included on one of the two lists Trump released during the 2016 campaign. Following the nominations of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court and Amul Thapar to the Sixth Circuit, it was noted that Trump might try to season some of the candidates on his original lists with federal Circuit Court experience prior to another possible Supreme Court vacancy.[17]

Courts of Appeals

United States Courts of Appeals

United States District Courts

State Supreme Courts

United States Senators

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Ginsburg began her legal studies at Harvard, but transferred to and graduated from Columbia.
  2. ^ Not included in either of the short lists of potential nominees released by Trump during the 2016 Presidential campaign.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Included on the original short list of eleven potential candidates for the Scalia vacancy released by the Trump campaign on May 18, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Included on the additional short list of ten more potential candidates for the Scalia vacancy released by the Trump campaign on September 23, 2016.

References

  1. ^ Ruger, Todd (October 19, 2016). "Clinton, Trump Talk Around Senate in Supreme Court Debate". Roll Call. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
  2. ^ Liptak, Alan (February 13, 2016), "Justice Antonin Scalia, Who Led a Conservative Renaissance on the Supreme Court, Is Dead at 79", The New York Times, retrieved February 17, 2016
  3. ^ Gresko, Jessica (February 14, 2016). "Scalia's death in office a rarity for modern Supreme Court". Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 16, 2016. Retrieved February 15, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "President Obama Delivers a Statement on the Passing of Supreme Court Justice Scalia", Rancho Mirage, CA (February 13, 2016).
  5. ^ Letter to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (February 23, 2016).
  6. ^ "Grassley on Supreme Court Nomination: 'We have a constitutional responsibility". Des Moines, Iowa: WHO tv interview. March 1, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  7. ^ a b Shear, Michael D. (March 16, 2016). "Obama Chooses Merrick Garland for Supreme Court". New York Times. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  8. ^ Howe, Amy (January 3, 2017). "Garland nomination officially expires". Scotusblog. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Alan Rappeport, Charlie Savage (May 18, 2016). "Donald Trump Releases List of Possible Supreme Court Picks". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 22, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Reena Flores, Major Garrett (September 23, 2016). "Donald Trump expands list of possible Supreme Court picks". CBS News. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  11. ^ a b c d Goldmacher, Shane; Johnson, Eliana; Gerstein, Josh (January 31, 2017). "How Trump got to yes on Gorsuch". Politico. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  12. ^ Johnson, Eliana; Goldmacher, Shane (January 24, 2017). "Trump's down to three in Supreme Court search". Politico. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  13. ^ Ngo, Emily (January 29, 2017). "Donald Trump poised to make Supreme Court nomination". Newsday. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  14. ^ Sherman, Mark; Salama, Vivian (January 24, 2017). "President Trump narrows Supreme Court nomination down to three judges". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  15. ^ Wheeler, Lydia (January 31, 2017). "Trump taps Neil Gorsuch for Supreme Court". The Hill. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  16. ^ Liptak, Adam; Flegenheimer, Matt (April 7, 2017). "Neil Gorsuch Confirmed by Senate as Supreme Court Justice". The New York Times. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g Goldmacher, Shane (April 6, 2017). "Trump's hidden back channel to Justice Kennedy: Their kids". Politico. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  18. ^ a b c Kendall, Brent; Bravin, Jess (January 27, 2017). "Who's Who: Donald Trump's Potential Supreme Court Picks". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  19. ^ "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Judge Amul R. Thapar for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit". The White House. March 21, 2017.
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