President Trump’s updated list of potential Supreme Court nominees places heavy emphasis in its selection on people who have been deeply involved in cases concerning religious liberty and abortion.
The 20 people added to a list Trump released in 2017 before the nomination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh include senators, attorneys, and judges, many of the latter class being Trump appointees. Trump’s list also included two former solicitor generals, Paul Clement and Noel Francisco, as well as Daniel Cameron, Kentucky’s attorney general, who delivered a breakout speech at the Republican National Convention.
Both Clement and Francisco have defended Republican administrations in court. Clement, who served under President George W. Bush, held the record for most cases argued before the Supreme Court from 2000 to 2011, earning him comparisons to basketball star LeBron James. More recently, Clement has taken on a slew of religious liberty cases, including the defense in the long-running Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania dispute and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, a 2013 case in which the court determined that closely held corporations did not have to provide abortion-causing contraceptives to employees.
Francisco argued on behalf of the Trump administration in Little Sisters and was also involved in a 2015 Supreme Court case closely related to the 2013 Hobby Lobby decision. Francisco also argued, as solicitor general, in favor of religious liberty in the contentious Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case, which determined that a Christian Colorado baker did not have to bake a cake for a gay wedding.
Cameron, who praised the Trump administration at the RNC, made waves this spring when he threw his support behind a church suing Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear for his coronavirus restrictions on worship gatherings. Cameron also used the pandemic to call for a temporary end to abortion in Kentucky, arguing that it was an elective procedure and, therefore, nonessential.
Among Trump’s potential picks in the judiciary, many have also been involved in prominent religious liberty or anti-abortion litigation. Kyle Duncan, whom Trump in 2017 appointed to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, previously served as the general counsel at the legal nonprofit group the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and was involved in the Hobby Lobby case. As a judge during the coronavirus pandemic, he upheld Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s temporary ban on abortions.
Peter Phipps, who Trump appointed to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, was the subject of controversy in 2018 because of his membership in the Catholic fraternal organization the Knights of Columbus, which opposes abortion. Sen. Kamala Harris, in preliminary questions to Phipps, asked if he had to swear an “oath” to implement the order’s beliefs in his professional life. At Phipp’s confirmation hearing, Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse mocked Harris’s questions by pretending to lambaste Phipps for his religious beliefs.
The elected officials Trump added to the list, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, have all been vigorous supporters of the administration’s position on abortion and religious liberty. Hawley, who decried the legal establishment in June, earlier this year, declared that he would not support a Supreme Court pick who had not explicitly rejected Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion nationwide. Immediately after Trump’s announcement, Cotton referenced the promise, tweeting, “It’s time for Roe v. Wade to go.”
The list notably did not include D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Neomi Rao, whom Hawley questioned last year on her stance toward Roe. Hawley, who nearly derailed Rao’s confirmation, expressed concerns throughout the process that she was not committed to causes that are socially conservative. The D.C. Circuit Court is often a stepping stone to the Supreme Court.
Trump, during his announcement, challenged former Vice President Joe Biden to do the same, before warning that “radical” justices would use the court’s power to “require taxpayers to fund extreme late-term abortion” and “remove the words ‘Under God’ from the Pledge of Allegiance.”
Religious liberty and anti-abortion advocates applauded Trump’s updates, noting that his court nominations have been a driving factor in their support for him.
“We anticipate that process will continue in a second term and look forward to the day that courts recognize the inherent dignity of all human life,” said Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, an annual anti-abortion rally at which Trump spoke in 2020.
Here’s Trump’s 2017 list, from which he chose Kavanaugh, provided by the White House.
Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Keith Blackwell of Georgia, Supreme Court of Georgia
Charles Canady of Florida, Supreme Court of Florida
Steven Colloton of Iowa, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Allison Eid of Colorado, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Britt Grant of Georgia, Supreme Court of Georgia
Raymond Gruender of Missouri, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Brett Kavanaugh of Maryland, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Joan Larsen of Michigan, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Mike Lee of Utah, United States Senator
Thomas Lee of Utah, Supreme Court of Utah
Edward Mansfield of Iowa, Supreme Court of Iowa
Federico Moreno of Florida, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Kevin Newsom of Alabama, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
William Pryor of Alabama, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Margaret Ryan of Virginia, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
David Stras of Minnesota, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Diane Sykes of Wisconsin, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Amul Thapar of Kentucky, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Timothy Tymkovich of Colorado, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Robert Young of Michigan, Supreme Court of Michigan (Ret.)
Don Willett of Texas, Supreme Court of Texas
Patrick Wyrick of Oklahoma, Supreme Court of Oklahoma
Here are the 20 people he added on Wednesday during a press conference where he challenged Biden to do the same.
Bridget Bade, Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Daniel Cameron, 51st Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Kentucky
Tom Cotton, U.S. Senator from Arkansas
Paul Clement, partner with Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Ted Cruz, U.S. Senator from Texas
Stuart Kyle Duncan, Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Steven Engel, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice
Noel Francisco, former Solicitor General of the United States
Josh Hawley, U.S. Senator from Missouri
James Ho, Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Gregory Katsas, Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Barbara Lagoa, Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Christopher Landau, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the United Mexican States
Carlos Muñiz, Justice on the Supreme Court of Florida
Martha Pacold, Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Peter Phipps, Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Sarah Pitlyk, Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
Allison Jones Rushing, Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Kate Todd, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Counsel to the President
Lawrence VanDyke, Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
