For years, Supreme Court aspirants have avoided talking about how they might rule. Trump's frustrations with his first-term picks could change that.
It is rare for a sitting federal appeals court judge to offer advice on whom to nominate to the Supreme Court. But speaking at an event in Washington this month, Trump-appointed Judge James C. Ho bluntly criticized recent rulings from the justices and offered guidance on what he called "biblically based principles of judicial selection." The ideal nominee, he said, would be humble, honest and ideologically consistent: "one of the men who have been with us the whole time." Judge Ho, who considers himself on the shortlist, added that presidents should choose judges "whose goal isn't to get onto a bench, but to get into heaven."
His remarks, posted online last week, were delivered to Christian activists at the Museum of the Bible. They echo frustrations shared by Mr. Trump and his base that the Supreme Court's six-judge conservative supermajority, three of whom are Trump appointees, has not uniformly backed his agenda. Despite a string of conservative wins on abortion, gun rights and gerrymandering, many on the Trump-aligned right see Justices Brett M. Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Neil M. Gorsuch as increasingly unreliable centrist swing votes. Two of Trump's appointees voted against his tariffs, one opposed his attempt to fire a Federal Reserve governor, and two opposed his effort to redefine birthright citizenship. Trump has called his first-term picks "fools" and "lap dogs" when they voted against him.
It is unclear when the court might next have a vacancy, but worries about those track records are shaping quiet conversations about Trump's possible picks. Many observers believe he would now favor former personal lawyers he has elevated to the bench, such as Emil Bove III, Matthew Alexander Schwartz and Justin Daniel Smith, as well as Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who derailed a criminal case over Trump's retention of classified documents. Trump has called Cannon "the absolute model of what a judge should be."
Mike Davis, who leads a Trump-aligned nonprofit, said Trump's first-term picks "disappoint us from time to time," particularly in the birthright citizenship case. He said Trump's ideal picks now would be "bold and fearless judges" who view all executive power as vested in the president. Many conservatives expect Trump may get at least one more justice. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., 76, has acknowledged thinking each year about possibly retiring.
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