Donald Trump has released a list of 11 judges whom he would consider nominating to the US Supreme Court if he is elected president and the late associate justice Antonin Scalia's seat is still empty by then.
AP reported that these names are on the list: Steven Colloton of Iowa, Allison Eid of Colorado, Raymond Gruender of Missouri, Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, Joan Larsen of Michigan, Thomas Lee of Utah, William Pryor of Alabama, David Stras of Minnesota, Diane Sykes of Wisconsin and Don Willett of Texas.
Five of the potential nominees - Eid, Lee, Stras, Larsen and Willett - are on state supreme courts. The rest serve on US circuit courts of appeals - Colloton and Gruender on the 8th, Hardiman on the 3rd, Kethledge on the 6th, Sykes on the 7th and Pryor on the 11th.
The likely GOP presidential nominee first promised to release the list in March, when his then-rival Senator Ted Cruz accused him of not being a true conservative and warned Republicans that Trump would appoint liberal judges to the court. At the time, Trump said he was working with the conservative Heritage Foundation to formulate a list of potential nominees and that, if elected president, he would pick only from that list.
President Barack Obama has nominated US Circuit Judge Merrick Garland to succeed Scalia, but Senate Republicans are refusing to consider him.