Investing.com - President-elect Donald Trump told a national TV audience last night in the U.S. that he is poised to pick his first nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. In an interview with Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel, after his speech in Cincinnati last evening, Trump, a former business executive, billionaire, and reality TV star, who stunned the world with his come-from-behind election win in the U.S. last month, said he had narrowed his choices to "three names -- from the list."
During the presidential campaign, Trump had named more than 20 possible, conservative legal scholars as likely candidates for the Supreme Court the U.S. The Supreme Court is one of three branches of government in the U.S. Constitution's separation of power scheme, including the judicial, the legislative and the executive branch. The president picks nominees for the court, and the Congress vets them, and approves, or disapproves, of the nominations.
Trump has been working with The Federalist Society, a conservative legal scholars group on developing the list of nominees during the last year.
The Supreme Court can rule on laws that impact the economy, civil rights, as well as other legal issues, in the U.S.
The court pick by Trump will be moved on during the historic first 100 days in office, a time of action on agenda items for new U.S. presidents, going back to the New Deal/Great Depression Era.
Leading contenders for the position include William Pryor of Arkansas. Pryor is the son of a former U.S. Senator, a conservative Democrat, David Pryor, and is currently on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, and who is a graduate of Tulane University School of Law, and Diane Sykes,a judge on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, who is a graduate of Marquette University School of Law. The opening of the position on the Supreme Court is due to the unexpected death, while at a hunting lodge, earlier this year of Justice Antonin Scalia.
Scalia's death was discussed in a leaked e-mail by John Podesta from the Hillary Clinton for President campaign released by WikiLeaks, and an opaque reference was made by the senior Clinton confidante to "wet works" related to the justice's death.