WASHINGTON -- The search continues for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s replacement.

  • President Trump so far met with four SCOTUS candidates
  • All four are federal appeals judges
  • Trump says he will announce his pick on Monday, July 9

President Trump has said he will announce his nominee on Monday, July 9, meaning the president is spending the week of July 4 conducting interview​s.

Trump confirmed in a tweet Tuesday morning that he met with four candidates on Monday.

 

The Washington Post first reported that Trump sat down with four federal appeals judges on Monday for 45-minutes each.

THE FOUR

Amul Thapar is a former U.S. attorney who is a favorite of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He’d be the first Indian-American Supreme Court Justice.

SCOTUSBlog says Thapar was on Trump's shortlist last year when he nominated Neil Gorsuch to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia. since then Trump has appointed Thapar to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the district that covers Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. READ the SCOTUSBlog profile.

Brett Kavanaugh served in the George W. Bush administration as a counsel to the president, and was a prosecutor for Ken Starr, as he investigated then-President Bill Clinton. He is currently on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. READ the SCOTUSBlog profile.

Raymond Kethledge was a clerk for retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. He is currently a federal judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the sixth Circuit, the same circuit Thapar serves on. He was nominated by President George W. Bush.

Amy Coney Barrett became a seventh circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judge in 2017. She’s a former Notre Dame Law professor who clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia.

“[The president is] looking for somebody with tremendous intellect,” said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, on Tuesday. “He’d like somebody with the right judicial temperament. And he wants somebody who’s going to be focused on upholding the constitution.”

Trump set a deadline for himself of Monday, July 9 to announce his pick.

And the president is not done speaking to candidates. A White House spokesperson said Trump spoke with three more candidates Tuesday.

Trump has said multiple times he hopes to make the Supreme Court more conservative-leaning.