2 Michigan Jurists on Trump's Hypothetical Supreme Court List

Hypothetical President Donald Trump on Wednesday released a list of hypothetical nominees to build a new hypothetical U.S. Supreme Court should he win a hypothetical matchup with hypothetical Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Among them are two jurists from Michigan — U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Raymond Kethledge and Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen.

The list, according to the Associated Press, also includes:

• Steven Colloton of Iowa
• Allison Eid of Colorado
• Raymond Gruender of Missouri
• Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania
• Thomas Lee of Utah
• William Pryor of Alabama
• David Stras of Minnesota
• Diane Sykes of Wisconsin
• Don Willett of Texas

President George W. Bush nominated Kethledge to the 6th Circuit in June 2006, but he wasn’t confirmed until 2008, when Bush struck a deal with Michigan’s two senators at the time, Sen. Debbie Stabenow and now retired Sen. Carl Levin, who had opposed Kethledge.

Michigan’s two senators agreed to support him when Bush agreed to also appoint a Democrat to the 6th Circuit.

Kethledge, a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, clerked for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, serve as counsel to former U.S. Sen Spencer Abraham, R-Michigan, and worked briefly for former Gov. John Engler. At the time of his appointment to the 6th Circuit, was a partner in Bush Seyferth Kethledge and Paige.

A former law professor and special counsel to the dean at U-M, she had served as a deputy assistant U.S. attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel under President George W. Bush.

Larsen also had clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, whose death in February created the current vacancy on the Supreme Court.

Of course, Trump’s list may end up being nothing more than an exercise in placating the conservative wing of the Republican party.

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President Obama in March nominated Merrick Garland, a centrist whose selection was seen as an attempt at compromise with the Republican-controlled Congress, to replace Scalia.

While Garland has met with several members of the Senate — including some Republicans — a formal hearing and confirmation vote still seems unlikely. GOP leaders have voiced their opposition to confirming a new justice until the presidential race is over. Scalia's replacement could ideologically tilt the court, which is currently split 4-4 down party lines.

In one of the few campaign promises that he's kept — maybe the only one — Trump released the list after assuring the conservative faction of his wing that they'd be pleased with whomever he nominates.

The list, overall, is to the right of conservative.

— By Marc Torrence (Patch National Staff)

Image credits: Joan Larsen via Michigan Supreme Court and Raymond Kethledge by SPDuffy527 via Wikimedia Commons