The death of US Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg leaves an opening on the highest American court, which president Donald Trump seems likely to fill in the months ahead. Despite the late justice’s wishes, majority leader Mitch McConnell has said Trump’s nominee will get a vote on the Senate floor.
Who could replace Ginsburg? To court conservative voters, Trump has publicly shared multiple lists of potential Supreme Court nominees over his career as a politician, most recently on Sept. 9. His two previous nominees, justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, appeared on prior lists. Trump has appointed a quarter of current federal judges, including radical conservatives and many younger choices who could serve for decades in lifetime seats.
Court watchers suspect that Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a finalist before Trump tapped Kavanaugh, is the most likely choice among five judges admired by conservatives.
And then there’s Trump’s latest list of potential nominees, a mix of politicians, stalwarts of the Republican establishment and youthful conservatives:
