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Sources close to the White House say Trump’s team, after a day of “creating suspense,” has told Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Neil Gorsuch that he will be the Supreme Court nominee. Heat Street‘s sources in the legal community say that a number of former Gorsuch aides are being asked to help form a team that will lead Gorsuch through the nomination process, including Denver-based attorney Michael Davis, who clerked for Gorsuch from 2006 through 2007.
If the call holds true, Gorsuch, 49, will be one of the youngest judges to face a Supreme Court confirmation hearing. A graduate of Harvard Law (he was there at the same time as Barack Obama), as well as Columbia and Oxford Universities, Gorsuch has a familiar background for SCOTUS nominees: he’s well-educated, served in the Justice Department, and clerked for Supreme Court Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy.
He may be best known for his recent decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby upholding the rights of conscientous objectors to the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive requirement.
Earlier Tuesday, word came down that two potential Supreme Court Justices, Gorsuch and Pittsburgh-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Thomas Hardiman, are reportedly on their way to Washington DC for President Trump’s 8pm announcement. But while former White House occupants have leaked news of a potential SCOTUS appointment early, the Trump Administration seems, even late Tuesday, to be making it deliberately hard for legal journalists to make a final determination that Gorsuch has the nod.
According to the Washington Post‘s Supreme Court reporter, the White House was looking to “build suspense” by inviting both men to meet with the President this afternoon.
Sources close to the process told CNN that Gorsuch was most likely to get the nod, but that Trump is known to change his mind once he’s conferred with advisers, especially his family (that’s how he ended up with Mike Pence as his Vice President over either Newt Gingrich or Chris Christie). Gorsuch is, of course, a safe bet. But Donald Trump is also known for thinking “outside the box,” and that’s why Hardiman remains in the mix, even as Gorsuch’s nomination has been all but released from the White House.
Hardiman is a Georgetown Law School graduate, and was, like many of Trump’s supporters, a blue collar admission who worked his way through law school driving a DC cab at night. He’s also a close personal friend of Trump’s sister, Marion Trump Barry, who serves with Hardiman on the 3rd Circuit—and Trump takes his family’s input on major decisions very seriously.
In recent days, eagle-eyed law gossip sites spotted Hardiman being followed around by US marshals.
Fortunately for Gorsuch, it looks like his claim to the bench is pretty safe, and he won’t have to endure an Oval Office Apprentice-style boardroom elimination, where he earns his place on the illustrious panel by planning and executing a charity event starring Gary Busey. :Heatstreet
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