There's no question that Donald Trump's proposed Supreme Court picks would be a nightmare for jurisprudence. What we're now finding out about that list is how Trump is trying to gain leverage over Republicans in the Senate with these picks.
Nearly everyone on Trump’s list has close ties to Republican senators. As Politico reported, one potential nominee is a close acquaintance of Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). Another is a former professor of Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.). Another is a longtime favorite of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Thomas Lee, a Utah Supreme Court justice, is the brother of Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah.).
In life under President Trump, it's not hard to imagine that these senators would consider the prospect of seeing their old friend, mentor or brother appointed to the Supreme Court (or, conversely, removed from Trump's list) when weighing the White House's legislative agenda.
This is precisely why it's rare to see a presidential candidate release a list of potential Supreme Court nominees before ever getting elected. There's an ethical dimension to using a sitting judge as barter for something else—even if it just looks that way.
"Ethics" and "Trump" don't belong in the same sentence, clearly. One court expert at the Brookings Institute, Russell Wheeler, was a bit shocked at just how brazen Trump was in his selections. "The fact is, Mike Lee might be above reproach and his brother may be above reproach, but the very fact that you and I can wonder about that, it creates problems," he told Huffington Post. "With Utah, there's a lot of Mormon Church opposition to Trump. There’s talk that Clinton might be able to swing that very red state. You don’t have to be too bright to figure out what might be going on there.”
The big question: Are Senate Republicans bright enough to figure that one out?
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