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National conservative leader and former Ohio Secretary of State and U.N. Ambassador Ken Blackwell expressed grave doubts Sunday about Judge Raymond Kethledge’s nomination to the Supreme Court, pushing back on the “Gorsuch 2.0” label advocated by Kethledge supporters by using “Souter 2.0.” On Twitter, Blackwell, who was a senior member of the Trump transition team, wrote that Kethledge “worried” him. “We can’t afford Souter 2.0,” he wrote, referring to George H.W. Bush nominee Justice David Souter, who, despite the endorsement of many solid conservatives, became an anchor of the left-wing of the Supreme Court for almost 20 years: J. Kenneth...

President Trump has “all but ruled out” Judge Raymond Kethledge from his shortlist of candidates to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court, a report reveals. A new report from the New York Times claims that Kethledge is one of four judges being considered by Trump to nominate to the Supreme Court that has been ruled out. The report states: The only judge among the four whom the president appears to have all but ruled out is Raymond M. Kethledge. People close to the process said the president had found him likable but comparatively dull. And some conservatives,...

Just one day before President Trump is set to announce his pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy in a primetime address from the White House, a top Democratic senator suggested that stopping the nominee is more important than the upcoming midterm elections. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., acknowledged that so-called red-state Democrats may be tempted to vote for Trump's selection out of political necessity, but urged his colleagues Sunday to consider more than their political careers. "Beyond the procedure, beyond the gamesmanship, it is a life-and-death important decision to be made by this court on so many...

Sen. Lindsey Graham says Republicans are holding “four lottery tickets” with President Trump’s final short list of judges who could be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. “Republicans are holding four lottery tickets, and all of them are winners,” Mr. Graham said on “Fox News Sunday.” “If you’re a conservative Republican, the four people named, particularly Thomas Hardiman, I’m glad he’s on the list, are all winners, and every Republican should embrace these picks.”

Judge Raymond Kethledge is being increasingly portrayed as the “consensus” or “compromise” candidate for the Supreme Court in media descriptions of President Donald Trump’s decision making process, suggesting his inevitability despite concerns over such a pick among Trump’s base. “As Donald Trump moves to finalize his Supreme Court pick, Judge Raymond Kethledge is getting a behind-the-scenes push portraying him as the consensus choice of conservatives,” Politico reported Thursday, citing positive interviews and support by conservatives like Hugh Hewitt, many of whom are strongly linked with “Never Trump” sentiments. The narrative picked up from there. On Friday, The Hill adopted Hewitt’s...

Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, told President Trump this past week that Judges Raymond M. Kethledge and Thomas M. Hardiman presented the fewest obvious obstacles to being confirmed to replace Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the Supreme Court, according to Republican officials briefed on the conversation. While careful not to directly make the case for any would-be justice, Mr. McConnell made clear in multiple phone calls with Mr. Trump and the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, that the lengthy paper trail of another top contender, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, would pose difficulties for his confirmation. Mr. McConnell...

Judge Raymond Kethledge, by some reports now the frontrunner to receive President Donald Trump’s nomination to replace Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, could put Trump’s “America First” policies in jeopardy if he were to become the swing vote on the nation’s highest court. Since President George W. Bush appointed Kethledge to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, he has consistently demonstrated interpretations of immigration law at odds with the conservative wing of the Supreme Court and, more broadly, the notion that American immigration laws exist for the benefit of Americans. He has also shown a willingness to...

President Trump has completed the interview process for Supreme Court candidates after speaking with six judges, a source with knowledge of the selection process told Fox News – with three finalists in particular leading the field. The president and his vetting team have moved quickly ahead of an expected announcement on Monday. While liberal advocacy groups and others are gearing up for a major confirmation fight, Trump is charging ahead with an imminent decision to fill the seat of retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, and potentially move the court more solidly to the right. Fox News is told that Trump has...

President Donald Trump is closing in on his next Supreme Court nominee, with three federal judges leading the competition to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. Trump’s top contenders for the vacancy at this time are federal appeals judges Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Raymond Kethledge, said a person familiar with Trump’s thinking who was not authorized to speak publicly. Working closely with a White House team and consulting with lawmakers and outside advisers, Trump has spent the week deliberating on the choice. He conducted interviews on Monday and Tuesday. He has not yet publicly indicated that he has narrowed...

Judge Kethledge rigorously enforces all laws as they are written, including the immigration laws. He knows that faithfully applying the Immigration and Nationality Act means respecting Congress's decision to give federal courts only a limited role in the immigration process.

Justice Kennedy was a fierce defender of the First Amendment. As he explained in one of his last opinions on the bench, the government “must not be allowed to force persons to express a message contrary to their deepest convictions. Freedom of speech secures freedom of thought and belief.” Not many can fill Justice Kennedy’s shoes when it comes to the First Amendment. But one who might is Justice Kennedy’s former law clerk: Judge Raymond Kethledge of the Sixth Circuit. Court watchers love comparing nominees to sitting justices. Judge Kethledge’s writing reminds me of the Chief’s. His focus on statutory...

When you imagine Supreme Court justices back in their law school days, what springs to mind? You probably imagine the future SCOTUS member as a total gunner, more Tracy Flick than Elle Woods — always prepared, always well-dressed, and always with their hand in air. For those of you who were slackers in law school but now aspire to judicial office, here’s some inspiration. It comes from Judge Raymond M. Kethledge, the esteemed Sixth Circuit judge, noted author, and possible Supreme Court nominee (a finalist for the seat now held by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch).

Can I call him a “dark horse” when every news report about Trump’s shortlist includes him? I like the term in this case just because all, and I do mean all, of the chatter on the right since Kennedy’s vacancy has been about Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, with Kethledge seemingly in the it’s-an-honor-just-to-be-nominated category.But that may have changed with yesterday’s presidential interviews.I’m momentarily in the same position vis-a-vis Kethledge as I was with Gorsuch last year — heard his name a few times before, don’t know much about him, but the more I learn the more I...

Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday, precipitating a cataclysmic election year confirmation battle. Though the White House has publicly identified as many as 25 possible candidates to succeed Kennedy, the early favorites for the pick are drawn from a small crop of young appeals court judges popular in Washington’s conservative legal circles. Speaking in the Oval Office shortly after Kennedy’s announcement, Trump confirmed he would draw his selection from a list of possible Supreme Court nominees assembled during the campaign. Five individuals were added to that list in November 2017. These early favorites include...