On Monday, President Trump will announce his nominee for Supreme Court justice replacing Justice Kennedy.
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Kennedy announced his retirement from the court opening up one position. Trump reportedly has narrowed down the potential nominees to appeals court judges Brett Kavanaugh, Raymond Kethledge, Amy Coney Barrett and Thomas Hardiman.
Kethledge, 51, is a graduate of the University of Michigan and current judge on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.
“Kethledge is a very well qualified nominee,” said Detroit Mercy Law Professor J. Richard Broughton. “Even though they are all well-qualified nominees. This is a group of judges that have all been well educated. They have had the right jobs, they’ve impressed the right people along the way.”
Professor Broughton said Kethledge has a long record of conservative opinions during his ten years as a federal appeals court judge.
“I think Kethledge, referring to his temperament and his views on a number of important issues, is going to appeal to conservatives. I think he will be an easily confirmable nominee,” Broughton said.
But Kethledge has never explicitly spoken his views on abortion or same-sex marriage like some of the other potential nominees.
“Whether he excites the political base, the hard right political base of the Republican Party, I think that’s a separate question,” Broughton said.
President Trump will make his announcement for the Supreme Court nominee on Monday at 9 p.m.
