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Title: Fox News: Kavanaugh and Kethledge new SCOTUS frontrunners?
Source:
HotAir
URL Source: https://hotair.com/archives/2018/07 ... ledge-new-scotus-frontrunners/
Published: Jul 5, 2018
Author: Allahpundit
Post Date: 2018-07-05 14:08:39 by Tooconservative
Keywords: None
Views: 10157
Comments: 54
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) July 5, 2018 If anyone’s well positioned to know that the winds have changed in the West Wing, it’s a Fox News reporter. And if anything’s likely to boost a shortlister overnight, it’s making a good face-to-face impression on Trump. A more ideological president might look past that sort of thing to more nuts-and-bolts concerns about the nominee’s jurisprudence, but with Trump “personal chemistry” is key. A White House official involved in vetting the nominees told Axios that Trump’s likely to tilt towards “who he feels most comfortable with in a personal setting,” which would explain Kethledge’s stock rising. Although in fairness to POTUS, it’s not like Kethledge is any weaker ideologically than the competition. If Trump can get someone whom he likes personally and whom righties will like on the bench, so much the better. An interesting footnote via Politico: Apparently Ted Cruz is bearish on Kavanaugh. On a call with associates on Monday, Cruz warned that Kavanaugh is the sort of “unreliable” jurist by whom Republicans have been disappointed in the past, and he has worked to bolster the prospects of his colleague, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) also spoke to the president about the merits and drawbacks of each nominee, including Kavanaugh. Cruz can stump for Lee all he wants but Lee’s not going to be the nominee and may not even be in serious contention. What’s his beef with Kavanaugh, though? It must be more than that one ObamaCare ruling, which Kavanaugh defenders like Ed Whelan have argued has been misunderstood. What’s strange about Cruz’s opposition is that he and Kavanaugh have had parallel careers to some extent. They’re roughly the same age (Kavanaugh’s a few years older), both Ivy League law grads, both Supreme Court clerks, both worked on the Florida recount in 2000, both served in the Bush administration in Dubya’s first term. They’ve come out of the same conservative professional legal culture and that culture is very high on Kavanaugh. If anything, you’d think Cruz would be out in front recommending him as the next best choice after Lee. Is there history between the two that explains his chilliness? As for Barrett’s stock dipping, maybe her interview with Trump didn’t go as well as Kethledge’s did. Possibly Trump is worried that Barrett’s reputation, fair or not, as a pro-life warrior will end up spooking Collins and Murkowski and he’ll be dealt an embarrassing defeat in confirmation. Or maybe he’s calculating that he’ll get to appoint Ginsburg’s successor and wants to “save” a woman nominee for that spot, knowing that public pressure to fill Ginsburg’s seat with a female will be particularly intense. It’s unlike him to pass on a chance to instigate a nationwide culture-war street fight, which is what nominating Barrett would do. But if anything could make that fight more vicious, waiting to nominate Barrett as a replacement for the left’s feminist hero would do it. It would be a supreme act of clawing back cultural territory from the other side, practically a provocation. Maybe he’ll announce The Purge on the same day and let Americans really have it out for a day or two. Or maybe Barrett’s stock hasn’t dipped. Per WaPo, she’s one of three finalists, not two: — Robert Costa (@costareports) July 5, 2018 I’d wager on Kethledge. If it’s true that people like Cruz are warning Trump about Kavanaugh, Trump’s not going to roll the dice on him. The one thing he’s done as president that’s united the right entirely was appoint Neil Gorsuch; naturally he wants another nominee in that mold, not someone who’s going to attract ominous grumbles from movement conservatives from the start and maybe end up knifing conservatives on a major case while on the bench. Kethledge seems to be a safer pick despite a last-minute effort by some border hawks to paint him as soft on immigration. There’s a piece answering that charge at NRO today that’s worth your while. One last thing per Axios: Although Trump has said he’ll announce the nominee on Monday, sources say they wouldn’t be surprised if he changed his mind and broke the news early once he’s settled on someone. Don’t wander too far from a computer or TV over the next few days. Poster Comment: Ted Cruz doesn't want Kavanagh but hasn't threatened to vote him down (yet). Rand Paul is threatening to vote against Kavanagh over his actions during the Bush years. And Barrett is probably too pro-life to get past Collins/Murkowski. It looks like Kethledge at this point. And he has most of the personal qualities that Gorsuch has (hunter, fisherman, Michigander) and is considered to have a more polished style in Senate hearings and Kethledge is considered more appealing than Gorsuch to people who know them both. And that personal style factor means a lot with Trump. Kethledge is a better bet to sail through Senate hearings flawlessly than either Barrett or Kavanagh.
Three days ago the alleged finalists were Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, but that was before Trump began interviewing shortlisters. And the interview with Raymond Kethledge reportedly went very, very well. .@FoxNews is told that @realDonaldTrump has completed the interview process for his @USSupremeCourt pick. Raymond Kethledge and Brett Kavanaugh are said to be the front-runners to replace Justice Kennedy. Announcement Monday night. 
Judge Raymond Kethledge Conservatives have also fixated on a 2011 challenge to Obamacare in which Kavanaugh ruled that the individual mandate functioned as a tax and invoked an 1867 law preventing individuals from challenging taxes before they have gone into effect. (The individual mandate went into effect in 2014.) But he also advised that, whatever its constitutional shortcomings, “Congress could eliminate any such potential problem.”… back on the SCOTUS search beat today. The top 3 contenders as of 9:30 a.m., per GOP and WH sources: Kavanaugh, Kethledge, Coney Barrett
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#2. To: Tooconservative, Lone Wolf Kethledge (#0)
Lone Wolf Don Willett for the win, IMO.
He would be a good pick but doesn't have quite the legal pedigree or court record that Trump is looking for. Neither does Barrett but she is a Womyn and they had to have a least one Womyn among the finalists. Kethledge is a lifelong Michigander. Michigan will like it if one of their own native judges is put on the Court. So Kethledge makes sense for Trump politically too. You can't argue the same for the other nominees except for Hardiman (born in MA but gone native in PA, another vital EC state for Trump).
Put the Michigander on the court. Once Ruthie flies back off to Notre Dame’s rafters fill her vacancy with a Michigoose, and all will be splendid.
His main shortcoming with Trump is the lack of a Harvard or Yale legal pedigree. OTOH, every graduate of the University of Michigan -- and especially its lawyers -- will be gratified if Trump picks a UM jurist for the Court. And that isn't bad for Trump in 2020. Kethledge does have a nice record of majority opinions and dissents. The Federalist Society likes him and the Dems seem to have no dirt to find on him because he has lived so quietly. And he does write all of his own opinions, a rarity nowadays. He likes to write even more than Scalia did. He is still the main feeder judge of clerks to the Court because he has been so diligent in instilling the most desired qualities in his law clerks. No one will be able to say he is undeserving of his reputation as a jurist and a leading federal judge. I really think it is going to be Kethledge. Even without the Harvard/Yale pedigree.
Kethledge has the taxi driver pedigree and Trump is doing the selecting. He does not appear to be subject to much objection.
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#6. To: hondo68 (#2)
Don Willett for the win, IMO.
#7. To: Tooconservative (#6)
#8. To: Vicomte13 (#7)
Put the Michigander on the court.
#11. To: Tooconservative (#8)
I really think it is going to be Kethledge. Even without the Harvard/Yale pedigree.
Replies to Comment # 11.
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