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Trump announces new list of potential Supreme Court nominees

President Donald Trump on Sept. 10 released a list of 20 names of people he would consider should a vacancy arise on the U.S. Supreme Court.

That list will be scrutinized now after the death Friday of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ginsburg, a member of the court since 1993, died of “complications of metastatic pancreas cancer,” at her home in Washington, D.C., the Supreme Court said in a statement.

Included on the list were three sitting U.S. senators -- Ted Cruz of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Josh Hawley of Missouri.

Cruz ran against Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, where their relationship was a bitter one. After Trump was elected president, Cruz became an ally.

The names Trump announced on Wednesday were added to a list he first released in 2016 when he was running for his first term.

Here is the list:

  • Bridget Bade is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to her appointment in 2019, Bade was a United States magistrate judge for the District of Arizona and an assistant United States Attorney for the District of Arizona. Bade served as a law clerk to Judge Edith H. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Bade earned her bachelor’s degree and her law degree from Arizona State University.
  • Daniel Cameron is the 51st attorney general of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Before his election in 2019, Cameron practiced law with Frost Brown Todd, LLC and served as legal counsel to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He served as a law clerk to Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Cameron received his bachelor’s degree and his law degree from the University of Louisville.
  • Tom Cotton is a United States senator for the state of Arkansas. Prior to his election in 2014, Cotton served as in the United States House of Representatives and in the United States Army, rising to the rank of captain while serving in Iraq with the 101st Airborne and in Afghanistan. Prior to his military service, Cotton practiced law at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP. Cotton served as a law clerk to Judge Jerry Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He received his bachelor’s degree and his law degree from Harvard.
  • Paul Clement is a partner with Kirkland & Ellis, LLP. He previously served as solicitor general of the United States and has argued more than 100 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. He served as a law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge Laurence Silberman on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Clement received his bachelor’s degree from the Georgetown University, his master of philosophy degree from Cambridge University and his law degree from Harvard.
  • Ted Cruz is a United States senator for the state of Texas. Prior to his election in 2012, Cruz was a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP and served as solicitor general of Texas. Cruz served as a law clerk to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist on the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge J. Michael Luttig on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Cruz received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and his law degree from Harvard.
  • Stuart Kyle Duncan is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before his appointment in 2018, he was a partner at Schaerr Duncan, LLP and general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Earlier in his career, Judge Duncan served as solicitor general of Louisiana. He served as a law clerk to Judge John M. Duhé Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He received his bachelor’s degree and his law degree from Louisiana State University. He earned a master’s in law from Columbia University.
  • Steven Engel is the assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel of the United States Department of Justice. Prior to his appointment in 2017, Engel was a partner with Dechert, LLP and previously served in the Office of Legal Counsel as deputy assistant attorney general. Engel served as a law clerk to Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge Alex Kozinski on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Engel earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard; his master of philosophy from Cambridge University; and a law degree from Yale.
  • Noel Francisco is the former solicitor general of the United States. Prior to his appointment in 2017, Francisco was a partner at Jones Day and served in the Office of Legal Counsel as deputy assistant attorney general and as associate counsel to President Donald Trump. Francisco served as a law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge J. Michael Luttig on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Mr. Francisco received his bachelor’s degree and his law degree from the University of Chicago.
  • Josh Hawley is a United States senator for Missouri. Prior to his election in 2018, Hawley served as Missouri’s attorney general, was an associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Law, and was an attorney with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Hawley served as a law clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts on the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge Michael McConnell on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He received his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and his law degree from Yale.
  • James Ho is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Prior to his appointment in 2018, Ho was a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP and served as solicitor general of Texas. Ho clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge Jerry Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He received his bachelor’s degree from Stanford and his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.
  • Gregory Katsas is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Prior to his appointment in 2017, Katsas served as deputy assistant to the president and deputy counsel to the president. He was a partner at Jones Day and served in senior positions in the United States Department of Justice, including as assistant attorney general for the Civil Division and acting associate attorney general. Katsas served as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas, both at the Supreme Court of the United and the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and to Judge Edward Becker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Katsas earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and his law degree from Harvard.
  • Barbara Lagoa is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Before her appointment in 2019, Lagoa was a justice on the Supreme Court of Florida. She also served as a district judge on the Florida Third District Court of Appeal and as an assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Lagoa earned her bachelor’s degree from Florida International University and her law degree from Columbia Law School.
  • Christopher Landau is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the United Mexican States. Prior to his appointment in 2019, Landau was a partner with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP and before that, headed the appellate litigation practice group at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP. Landau served as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas, both on the Supreme Court of the United States and the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and to Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court of the United States. He received his bachelor’s degree and his law degree from Harvard.
  • Carlos Muñiz is a Justice on the Supreme Court of Florida. Prior to his appointment in 2019, Muñiz served as general counsel to the United States Department of Education and in various positions in the Florida state government, including as deputy attorney general and chief of staff to Attorney General Pam Bondi. Muñiz served as a law clerk to Judge Jose Cabranes on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and to Judge Thomas Flannery on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Muñiz received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and his law degree from Yale.
  • Martha Pacold is a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Prior to her appointment in 2019, Pacold served as both deputy general counsel of the Department of the Treasury. Earlier in her career, Pacold was a partner at Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott, LLP and served as counsel to the U.S. Attorney General. Pacold served as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court of the United States, to Judge Jay Bybee of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and to Judge A. Raymond Randolph of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Pacold earned her bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.
  • Peter Phipps is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Prior to his elevation to this position in 2019, Phipps served as United States District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Before taking the bench, Phipps served as senior trial counsel in the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division at the United States Department of Justice. Phipps served as a law clerk to Judge R. Guy Cole, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Dayton and his law degree from Stanford.
  • Sarah Pitlyk is a judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Prior to her appointment in 2019, Pitlyk was special counsel at the Thomas More Society and in private practice at Clark & Sauer, LLC. Pitlyk served as a law clerk to then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She received her bachelor’s degree from Boston College; her master’s degree from Georgetown University and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium; and her law degree from Yale.
  • Allison Jones Rushing is a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Prior to her appointment in 2019, Rushing was a partner at Williams & Connolly, LLP. Rushing clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge David Sentelle on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and then-Judge Neil Gorsuch on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Rushing earned her bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University and her law degree from Duke University School of Law.
  • Kate Todd is deputy assistant to the president and deputy counsel to the president. Before her appointment in 2019, she served as senior vice president and chief counsel of the United States Chamber Litigation Center and as a partner at what was previously Wiley Rein & Fielding, LLP. Todd served as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Todd earned her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and her law degree from Harvard.
  • Lawrence VanDyke is a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to his appointment earlier this year, Judge VanDyke served as deputy assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice. Earlier in his career, VanDyke served as both solicitor general of Nevada and solicitor general of Montana. VanDyke served as a law clerk to Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Montana State University; his bachelor of theology degree from Bear Valley Bible Institute; and his law degree from Harvard.

Those names we added to Trump’s original list of candidates for potential Supreme Court positions. They include:

  • Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana
  • Steven Colloton of Iowa
  • Allison Eid of Colorado
  • Britt C. Grant of Georgia
  • Raymond Gruender of Missouri
  • Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania
  • Raymond Kethledge of Michigan
  • Joan Larsen of Michigan
  • Thomas Lee of Utah
  • Kevin C. Newsom of Alabama
  • William Pryor of Alabama
  • David Stras of Minnesota
  • Diane Sykes of Wisconsin
  • Don Willett of Texas
  • Patrick Wyrick of Oklahoma