Trump Adds 5 Names to His List of SCOTUS Possibilities

President Trump's Supreme Court shortlist just got a little longer. Should another vacancy on the high court arise, Trump on Friday added five new judges to his existing list of 20 possible replacements, Politico reports. "These additions, like those on the original list released more than a year ago, were selected with input from respected conservative leaders," the White House said in a statement that also noted Trump was "elected to restore the rule of law and to Make the Judiciary Great Again." USA Today notes that Trump's move "precedes the possible, but still unannounced, retirement of Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy."

Trump's initial list, released in May 2016, had 11 names on it; in September 2016 he added 10 more, and he ultimately chose Neil Gorsuch from that list to replace Antonin Scalia once he was elected president. The new judges added to the list are Amy Coney Barrett of the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals, Britt Grant of the Georgia Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Kevin Newsom of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, and Patrick Wyrick of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. A director at the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, which spent $10 million on a pro-Gorsuch ad campaign, calls the new additions the "best and brightest judges in the nation," the Hill reports. The full list is here. (More US Supreme Court stories.)