Conservative Leaders Already Have Some Names in Mind for Potential Trump Supreme Court Nominees

Trump could solidify a conservative majority on the court for generations to come.

Visitors pose for photographs outside the U.S. Supreme Court.
Leaders in the movement already had their eyes on five potential names. Jose Luis Magana/AP

The first time Donald Trump ran for president, he released a public list of potential Supreme Court nominees to signal to skeptical Republicans he’d only pick conservative judges. This year, he didn’t release a list because he didn’t have to: The GOP is well aware Trump will likely have the opportunity to nominate multiple justices to the court in his next term and stand ready to help him.

At a gathering this fall, conservative leaders met in Washington, D.C., to plan out exactly who the president-elect should consider for the bench and maintain the court’s conservative majority for generations to come.

The Center for Judicial Renewal, a part of the prominent conservative group American Family Association, released its research as to which judges and legal minds it considered “the absolute best” to replace Justices Samuel Alito, 74, and Clarence Thomas, 76, — the oldest justices — should they choose to retire in the next administration, said Phillip Jauregui, senior counsel and director of the group.