Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Thomas Hardiman appears to have a few advantages over other candidates, in the race to become President Trump’s nominee — including a connection to Trump and Trump’s private assessment that Hardiman might be the toughest judge he can get through the Senate.
“‘He’s probably the most conservative judge that can get confirmed,'” a well-placed source familiar with the deliberations quoted Trump as saying in a private meeting.
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Trump has also suggested that Senate Republicans use the nuclear option to eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court justices, which would expand the window of viable judges by making it possible to confirm Trump’s pick with just 51 votes. But even then, Hardiman would appear to have an advantage over another possible nominee, Eleventh Circuit Judge William Pryor.
Pryor was confirmed to the lower court over the objections of Senate Democrats and one incumbent Republican, Maine Sen. Susan Collins, while another Republican, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, did not vote.
That doesn’t mean Trump will pick Hardiman over Neil Gorsuch, who sits on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and is also a reputed finalist for the seat. Gorsuch was confirmed by voice vote and has the approval of Murkowski. “Gorsuch, I think, is a good guy, from the research that I’ve been able to do on him,” she told the Examiner last week.
If Hardiman is the pick, he might have his Pennsylvania background to thank. The Keystone state falls within the Third Circuit, so he serves alongside Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, who is the sister of the president and reportedly an advocate of Hardiman. And Pennsylvania voted Republican in the 2016 presidential election for the first time since 1984.
“I think all of that plays in,” the source, who requested anonymity, told the Washington Examiner. “I think the sister, Pennsylvania, and I’m sure he’s being told as far as who he can actually get confirmed.”
Hardiman’s nomination, should it come to pass, would disappoint Murkowski, who wants the next Supreme Court justice to have experience dealing with the legal issues that affect the western United States. As a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Georgetown Law School, he could satisfy her desire to break up the Harvard-Yale duopoly on the court.
“Right now we have a Supreme Court that looks pretty — not generic, but in terms of where everybody has been educated back at Harvard, Yale, they’re from New York,” she told the Washington Examiner.
Hardiman’s allies are already positioning him to be the exemplar of Trump’s commitment to the blue-collar voters who helped him into the White House. “He is one of the smartest persons I know, he has that rare mixture of a brilliant analytical mind and love of the very working class people that he came from,” Duquesne University president Ken Gormley told the Washington Examiner immediately after a luncheon with Hardiman.
Such messaging could make Hardiman’s nomination a difficult vote for Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa. At least, that seems more likely to Republicans than Gorsuch, a Colorado jurist, attracting the support of his state’s just-reelected Democratic senator, Michael Bennet. Casey is up for reelection in 2018.
“The state of Pennsylvania is very special to me for lots of reasons, especially from a couple of months ago, remember?” Trump said Thursday during his speech to congressional Republicans in Philadelphia. “‘There is no path to victory for Trump in Pennsylvania.’ Except, we won.”
Still, Trump is facing real headwind in the Senate, and may not be able to attract any Senate Democrats. Most conservatives expect Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to attempt to unite the entire Democratic caucus against anyone Trump nominates, as liberal voters are angry that McConnell refused to hold a vote on Judge Merrick Garland, whom President Barack Obama nominated to replace Scalia last year.
“I think at this point they could nominate Merrick Garland and the Democrats would put up a fight,” the Judicial Crisis Network’s Carrie Severino cracked.
