FOX NEWS SUPERSTAR TO BE ON TRUMP'S SUPREME COURT?
Chelsea Schilling
Judge Andrew Napolitano (Photo: Screenshot)
Judge Andrew Napolitano was spotted for a second time at Trump Tower Tuesday morning, leading to speculation that President-elect Donald Trump may be considering the judge for a position on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Napolitano, a former New Jersey Superior Court judge and Fox News senior judicial analyst, is a favorite commentator in conservative and libertarian circles. After he emerged from an elevator at Trump Tower Tuesday, several blogs, including one published by former Rep. Allen West, began speculating about Napolitano’s meeting with Trump.
“Trump might be seeking advice from the libertarian analyst — and maybe, just maybe he might be considering the Fox analyst for a Supreme Court position,” wrote PJ Media’s Tyler O’Neil. “While Napolitano is not one of the 21 names on Trump’s SCOTUS list, anything is possible.”
Matt Palumbo at Allen West’s blog added, “If he’s not in consideration for what will be the most contested appointment Trump makes, he’s undeniably going to be influential in picking who that person is.”
After the meeting, Napolitano told Fox Business’ Stuart Varney, “The president-elect is focusing on his choices, or his choice, for the Supreme Court of the United States.”
Napolitano continued, “We discussed the judicial attitudes, judicial temperament, judicial ideology and candidates for the court.”
In his columns published on WND and in public statements, the judge has been outspoken on the issue of Hillary Clinton’s unsecured private email server, even suggesting the Department of Justice may reopen the email case against the former secretary of state.
Judge Napolitano visits Trump Tower Tuesday:
With his inauguration just days away, Trump’s nomination to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative stalwart, is expected at any time. As of Tuesday, Judge William H. Pryor Jr. was widely considered to be Trump’s most likely choice for the nomination. Trump’s current list of 21 candidates for the Supreme Court does not include Napolitano. The following is the list of individuals Trump is reportedly considering for the high court:
1. Keith Blackwell
2. Charles Canady
3. Steven Colloto
4. Allison Eid
5. Neil Gorsuch
6. Raymond Gruender
7. Thomas Hardiman
8. Raymond Kethledge
9. Joan Larsen
10. Mike Lee
11. Thomas Lee
12. Edward Mansfield
13. Federico Moreno
14. William Pryor
15. Margaret A. Ryan
16. Amul Thapar
17. Timothy Tymkovich
18. David Stras
19. Diane Sykes
20. Don Willett
21. Robert Young
Trump has promised to pick a candidate that shares the late Justice Scalia’s faithfulness to the U.S. Constitution and conservatism.
As WND reported, his rumored top choice is William Pryor, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit since 2004. WND CEO and Editor Joseph Farah recently advised Trump against nominating Pryor in his daily column, calling the judge an “establishment hack.” Farah cited Pryor’s 2003 prosecution of then-Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore for violating judicial ethics after Moore pledged to display a Ten Commandments monument at a state judicial building in Montgomery.
Farah noted that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol was constitutional and that the U.S. Supreme Court chamber itself has a display of the Ten Commandments on the ceiling.
“Does anyone, Donald Trump included, think Antonin Scalia would hold that Judge Roy Moore should have been removed from office for displaying the Ten Commandments?” Farah asked. “If not, then we should agree that the man who prosecuted Roy Moore for defying that illegal federal court order as a judicial ethics violation is hardly worthy of replacing him on the high court.”
http://www.wnd.com/2017/01/fox-news-superstar-to-be-on-trumps-supreme-court/print/