Politics

Trump Reveals Who Could Replace Kennedy. Conservatives Will Be Thrilled

Screenshot/Fox News

Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
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President Donald Trump committed to picking one of the 25 candidates from his previously released list to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

The president said he learned of Kennedy’s retirement only Wednesday when he visited him at the White House for approximately 30 minutes and discussed who should replace him.

“We have a very excellent list of great judges — highly intelligent, hopefully tremendous people,” Trump said. ” The list is outstanding. When I was running, I put down a list of 20 people. Because not being a politician, I think people wanted to hear what some of my choices may be. It was pretty effective. I think you see the quality that we’re looking at when you look at that list. But I did add — I added five additional people to the list. So it will be somebody from that list.”

Trump’s latest revision to the list was released in November 2017. “The president remains deeply committed to identifying and selecting outstanding jurists in the mold of Justice Gorsuch,” the White House said in its latest release of potential justices, adding “these additions, like those on the original list released more than a year ago, were selected with input from respected conservative leaders.”

The list has drawn significant praise from conservative judicial groups who have provided significant support to the White House and the Trump campaign in drafting it initially.