Two Alabama Candidates On Short List To Replace Kennedy

BIRMINGHAM, AL - The news that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy will retire sent ripples through the country's legal and political world, as speculation turned immediately to who will replace Kennedy on the bench. The list of candidates is short, but two of the people on that list are from Alabama, according to reports.

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Alabama Media Group reported that former Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, who is a judge with the 11th Curcuit, and Judge Kevin Newsom, also with the 11th Circuit, are in the running, based on a list formed in November by President Donald Trump.

Newsom, a 45-year-old native of Birmingham, clerked for Supreme Court Justice David Souter in the 1990s. He later served as Alabama's Solicitor General and worked in private practice before being nominated by Trump as a federal judge last year.

Pryor, a native of Mobile, served as Alabama's Attorney General from 1997-2004. He was nominated to the 11th Circuit by President George W. Bush in 2003 and currently serves as acting chairman of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

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