Nominees Supreme Court

Here are the candidates for nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court by Donald Trump in early 2016, in order to fill the vacancy of Justice Antonin Scalia:

Tier one candidates

candidate	current position	age	comments
Charles T. Canady	Florida supreme court	62	former congressman who coined the expression "partial-birth abortion," in sponsoring the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act; twice properly rejected an unjustified attempt by a minor to have an abortion without first notifying her parents as required by Florida law
Steven Colloton	US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit	53	ruled twice in favor of the pro-abortion side (see above)
Allison Eid	Colorado Supreme Court	51	former clerk for Clarence Thomas
Neil Gorsuch	US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit	49	Judge Gorsuch is a big supporter granting special rights to men who say they have a female general identity. He mandated civil rights for "gender identity" in 2009 by adopting a Ninth Circuit opinion by the liberal Judge Reinhardt, which held the federal law called "Title VII" protects discrimination against gender identity. Kaslt v. Maricopa County Cmty. College Dist., 325 Fed. Appx. 492 (9th Cir. 2009). At the time virtually every other circuit rejected this liberal view. More recently Judge Gorsuch expressed his support for referring to biological men as women.
Raymond Gruender	US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit	53	strong pro-life record, but lacks a strong sponsor
Thomas Hardiman	US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit	51	Two of Judge Hardiman's decisions have been reconsidered by the U.S. Supreme Court and both were affirmed. In a third case, Barkes v. First Correctional Medical, 766 F.3d 307 (3d Cir. 2014), Hardiman dissented and subsequently the Supreme Court unanimously agreed with Judge Hardiman's dissent, and reversed the decision in Taylor v. Barkes, 135 S. Ct. 2042 (2015).
Raymond Kethledge	US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit	50 (in Dec.)	Refused to join a concurring opinion by conservative Judge Boggs that sought to strengthen the Second Amendment by establishing a "strict scrutiny" standard of review for laws that infringe on it. Tyler v. Hillsdale Cnty. Sheriff's Dep't, 837 F.3d 678, 702 (6th Cir. 2016) (Boggs, J., concurring).
Joan Larsen	Michigan Supreme Court	47	faculty member at a liberal law school, the University of Michigan
Sen. Mike Lee	Senator R-Utah	45	strong pro-life record, but a senator has not been picked directly for the U.S. Supreme Court in about a century
Thomas Lee	Utah Supreme Court		could be a consensus pick
William Pryor	US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit	54	prosecuted Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore for an alleged ethics violation due to having the Ten Commandments on display; was barely confirmed for his current position, by a vote of only 53-45 with Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski abstaining
David Stras	Minnesota Supreme Court	42	probably too young at this time to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, he is a former clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas
Diane Sykes	US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit	59 (in Dec.)	ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood in blocking an Indiana law that attempted to cut off funding to it under the Medicaid law. Planned Parenthood of Ind., Inc. v. Comm'r of the Ind. State Dep't of Health, 699 F.3d 962 (7th Cir. 2012).[1] Was confirmed for her current position by a divisive vote of 70-27
Don Willett	Texas Supreme Court	50	outspokenly anti-Trump at one point, and he lacks a strong sponsor

Tier two candidates

candidate	current position	age	comments
Keith Blackwell	Georgia supreme court	41	probably too young at this time to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court
Edward Mansfield	Iowa Supreme Court		wrote a controversial decision in favor of a right to fire a woman for being sexually attracted to her
Federico Moreno	Southern District of Florida		unlikely pick from the position of a trial rather than appellate court judge
Margaret Ryan	US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces	52	she wrote the recent decision that court-martialed a Marine for having a Bible verse displayed on her desk, which suggests a hostility or insensitivity by Ryan to religious beliefs
Amul Thapar	Eastern District of Kentucky		unlikely pick from the position of a trial rather than appellate court judge
Timothy Tymkovich	US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit	60	held in favor of religious liberty in Hobby Lobby decision
Robert Young	Michigan Supreme Court	66 (in Jan.)	unlikely due to age and lack of a strong sponsor

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