WASHINGTON — During Donald Trump’s tenure in the White House, Republicans assembled the most conservative Supreme Court in a century. Now they are excited about the prospect of bolstering those efforts if he wins four more years, confirming more conservative justices as well as lower court judges.
GOP senators expect there will be at least one Supreme Court Vacancy In Trump’s second term — and if he defeats Vice President Kamala Harris — Republicans are likely to control the Senate, which handles the confirmation process. Two long-serving conservative justices will retire in the coming years: Clarence Thomas, 76, and Samuel Alito, 74.
“High — extremely high,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., a member of the Judiciary Committee, when asked about Trump’s ability to appoint more Supreme Court justices if Republicans win the election. election.
“I think you’re going to see at least one retirement on the conservative side. I’m speculating, but I’m pretty confident about it,” Hawley said, adding that Republicans will probably look for more potential justices in the mold of Thomas and Alito — “especially if we replace one of these individuals.”
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is running to become the next Senate GOP leader, said Trump’s first-term pattern of selecting young and conservative judges will continue, including for Supreme Court vacancies.
“I would think so. Obviously, he worked with the Federalist Society and other conservative legal organizations to find the best people, and I thought he did a great job with the Supreme Court,” Cornyn said.
If Trump were to get two more Supreme Court picks, he would appoint more than half of the justices, something no president has done since Franklin D. Roosevelt and the two-term limit.
“I don’t think any other president has done that. That would be unprecedented,” Cornyn said. “The three things we’ve approved is a legacy, one of the best things the administration and President Trump have done with the Republican majority. Five seems almost too much to hope for.
Hawley said: “It could happen with Trump. It could be. That would be great.”
For Democrats, it’s a scary prospect — and one they hope will motivate their voters to turn out this fall and prevent a Trump victory.
“It wouldn’t be good,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, who was silent.
“We could get rid of more precedents. You’d have more Dobbs-like decisions. And there are many such decisions that the Supreme Court is dealing with,” said Hirono, who is on the Judiciary Committee. “It will be worse. So I think this will lead to further calls for Supreme Court reform.”
Neither Thomas nor Alito will resign. But two staunch conservatives may see the pairing of a GOP presidency and Senate control as an ideal opportunity to secure their legacies by keeping their seats in right-leaning hands for several more decades. 51 votes are needed to confirm a Supreme Court justice, so in that scenario, Republicans would have the power to replace them without any input from Democrats.
The next oldest justices on the nation’s highest court are liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, 70, and conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, 69.
On the campaign trail, Harris didn’t talk much about the prospect of Supreme Court vacancies under the next president. However, in Roe v. He has repeatedly criticized Trump for choosing three judges who were critical to the five-judge majority that overturned Wade and ruled that presidents have immunity for certain official acts in the Trump case.
“So there’s a lot going on in this election. … And this is not 2016 or 2020. It’s different for many reasons, but a very important one is what the Supreme Court did just a few months ago,” Harris said at a recent fundraiser in Los Angeles. “The Supreme Court basically said that a former president is effectively immune regardless of what he does in the White House.”
Harris campaign spokesman James Singer responded to the article after it was published. Write on X: “Trump bragged about 3 judges overturning Roe. Imagine what he would have done with 2 or 3 more.”
Trump, who campaigned hard for the Supreme Court in 2016, was less vocal this time around as he defended his role in overturning federal abortion rights. His campaign did not respond when asked if he would release another list of high court prospects to choose from if there is another vacancy to fill.
Sen. Dick Durbin, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said Republicans would jump at the chance to fill another Supreme Court opening.
“They’re going to move heaven and earth and defy all precedent to fill a vacancy,” Durbin said, referring to the GOP-led Senate’s rush for justice just days before the 2020 primary.
He said allowing Trump to appoint a majority of the Supreme Court would be a “dead end” — something Democrats could do little to prevent if they lost the White House and the Senate.
Mike Davis, a former senior adviser on Republican nominations for the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Trump’s judicial choices would be “more bold” in his second term.
“President Trump’s biggest and most consequential achievement in his first term was turning the Supreme Court into the first constitutional majority in 90 years,” Davis told NBC News, noting that Trump has also tilted many powerful appeals courts to the right. “Trump will build on his success in his second term by appointing bolder, more fearless federal judges.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R.N.C., the center-right Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said he was “as excited as you can be about the blood sport of SCOTUS nominees today” and “the opportunity to potentially confirm another nominee.”
“I’ve got four under my belt now and I think it would be an interesting prospect for the country,” Tillis said. “I feel really good about supporting all three Trump candidates.”