Donald Trump unveils his potential Supreme Court nominees - CNNPolitics.com Thoughts on these picks? Are they well-considered, smart decisions on his part? Or part of an agenda in some way? Or just a copy/paste from some conservative website that'll cause right wingers to drool on command?
The latter I think. There's no way Trump actually knows anything about these justices, or researched them. News outlets have reported that he contacted the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society (right-wing think tanks); the list looks to me like a mix of both. Note, however, that the list is essentially just a "suggestion" (shades of the Muslim ban) to himself: The meaningless Donald Trump Supreme Court list "First, Trump’s press release does not commit to choosing from this list. Rather, it states: “The following list of potential Supreme Court justices is representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value and, as President, I plan to use this list as a guide to nominate our next United States Supreme Court Justices.” So Trump has a “plan” to use the list as a “guide.” That’s nice, but it’s not a commitment to choosing from the list. It’s true that Trump said in March that when he someday announced a Supreme Court list, he would pick only from the list. But he doesn’t say that now. And even if he does commit to that now, given Trump’s record it’s hard to take such a commitment seriously. Say what you want about Trump, but he is more than willing to change his mind when new circumstances arise. And actually being elected would count as a changed circumstance. You can imagine President Trump’s tweet when he explains why he didn’t pick from his list: “List of 11 was ideal, but had to compromise with Senate. My nephew John Trump is smart. Be a great judge!” Finally, if you take the list seriously, it includes a very wide mix of judges. It includes moderates, conservatives and libertarians. It includes those more committed to judicial restraint and those more committed to judicial activism. It includes some distinguished judges and some with less of a national reputation. I assume Trump is counting on conservative and libertarian lawyers to look at the list, see at least one person they like, and decide to support Trump and just hope for the best. But if that happens, I think it will reflect wishful thinking rather than sound judgment."
If this is what we can expect from The Donald J. Trump vetting process © — I can't wait to see who he comes up with for Veep!
