WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump interviewed three more prospective Supreme Court justices Tuesday as his White House mobilizes to select a replacement for retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.
White House spokesman Raj Shah said Trump spoke to three potential picks Tuesday. Shah did not detail with whom Trump had spoken nor say how many potential nominees Trump has now interviewed.
Trump on Monday interviewed federal appeals judges Raymond Kethledge, Amul Thapar, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, said a person with knowledge of the meetings who was not authorized to speak about them.
The president also spoke by phone with Utah Sen. Mike Lee on Monday. That was first reported by the Deseret News and later confirmed by the senator's office. Asked Tuesday about the call, Shah only said: "Yesterday, the President spoke on the phone with Sen. Mike Lee."
Lee is the only lawmaker on the list of 25 names Trump says he will use to replace Kennedy, though he has not been viewed as a top contender.
The president spent the weekend at his Bedminster golf club, consulting with advisers, including White House counsel Don McGahn, as he considers his options to fill the vacancy with a justice who has the potential to be part of precedent-shattering court decisions on abortion, health care, gay marriage and other issues.
McGahn will lead the overall selection and confirmation process, the White House said Monday, repeating the role he played in the successful confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch last year.
McGahn will be supported by a White House team that includes Shah, taking a leave from the press office to work full time on "communications, strategy and messaging coordination with Capitol Hill allies." Justin Clark, director of the Office of Public Liaison, will oversee White House coordination with outside groups.
Trump's push came as the Senate's top Democrat tried to rally public opposition to any Supreme Court pick who would oppose abortion rights. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer issued a campaign-season call to action for voters to prevent such a nominee by putting "pressure on the Senate," which confirms judicial nominees.
Schumer said any of the people on Trump's list of 25 potential nominees would be "virtually certain" to favor overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that affirmed women's right to abortion. He also said they would also be "very likely" to back weakening President Barack Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Schumer said that while Democrats don't control the Senate -- Republicans have a 51-49 edge -- most senators back abortion rights. In an unusually direct appeal to voters, he said that to block "an ideological nominee," people should "tell your senators" to oppose anyone from Trump's list.
"It will not happen on its own," the New Yorker wrote in an opinion column in Monday's New York Times. "It requires the public's focus on these issues, and its pressure on the Senate."
Schumer's column appeared a day after Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she would oppose any nominee she believed would overturn Roe v. Wade. Collins, who appeared on ABC's This Week and CNN's State of the Union, said she would only back a judge who would show respect for settled law such as the Roe decision, which has long been anathema to conservatives.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters in Ashland, Ky., on Monday that he's confident Republicans will be able to get a judge confirmed.
Information for this article was contributed by Mark Sherman, Hope Yen and Alan Fram of The Associated Press.
A Section on 07/04/2018