Supreme Court Vacancy: President Trump Down To 3 Finalists

President Donald Trump is said to be down to his final three picks to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court that has remained on the nation's highest court since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia nearly a year ago.

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he would likely be nominating his pick next week. According to reports, Trump invited majority and minority leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, to the White House to discuss the vacancy.

Citing people familiar with the search process, Politico reports that Trump is down to three finalists whom he interviewed in New York during the transition. The finalists are 10th Circuit Judge Neil Gorsuch, Third Circuit judge Thomas Hardiman and 11th Circuit Judge Bill Pryor, according to Politico, and Gorsuch and Hardiman are said to be finalists in the race.

Pryor is said to be under fire from the right for his decision to join the majority in an opinion that protected transgender citizens from workplace discrimination, according to Politico. He is also controversial on the left for calling Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that legalized abortion, “the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history.” However, a source told Politico that Pryor has prospective Attorney General Jeff Sessions, himself controversial for his stance on civil rights, on his side. The New York Times described Pryor as a protégé of Sessions, serving as his deputy while he was Alabama's attorney general and succeeding him when Sessions moved to the Senate.

The Times reports that Gorsuch and Pryor are leading contenders in the search.

Hardiman, who sits on the same U.S. Court of Appeals with Trump's sister, Maryanne Barry Trump, has maintained a conservative stance on issues like guns, searches and police officers, USA Today details. Gorsuch, who has a strong academic pedigree, believes that the Constitution should be interpreted based on the intent of the Founders, a belief that Scalia encompassed.

Senate Republicans blocked Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama's nomination to fill the vacancy, moving the decision into the hands of the next administration. The vacancy regularly came up during the presidential race and is said to be an early priority for the Trump administration.

Trump's nomination to the Supreme Court can have far reaching consequences on issues of civil liberties and rights, something that has those on the left worried as the majority justices on the court will be Republican appointed.

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