Trump plans to announce Supreme Court pick July 9

Author: CBS News
Published:
President Donald Trump speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 12, 2018, during a meeting with state and local officials about infrastructure. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Trump said he is interviewing six or seven people and plans to announce his choice to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on July 9. Among the candidates he’s considering are two women, and he told reporters that he might meet with candidates over a golf weekend.

CBS News has learned that the two leading contenders right now are D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Brett Kavanaugh and 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Mr. Trump is also considering 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Amul Thapar, who would become the first Indian American to serve on the Supreme Court if selected.

Aboard Air Force One on the way to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, the president also said it was inappropriate to discuss whether he was looking for a justice who would be willing to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court 1973 case legalizing abortion.

In an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo that will air Sunday, though, the president said he “probably” wouldn’t ask candidates about how they’d vote on the case.

There are two other names that have been floated as front-runners in addition to Kavanaugh, Barrett and Thapar: 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Thomas Hardiman, who was the runner-up to Neil Gorsuch on the president’s first Supreme Court pick; and 6th Circuit Court of Appeals’ Judges Raymond Kethledge.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

CBS News’ Errol Barnett and Weijia Jiang contributed to this report.

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