‘Safeguard Our Values’: Vivek Ramaswamy To Unveil List Of Potential Supreme Court Picks
Katelynn Richardson on July 17, 2023
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is set to release a list of nine potential nominees for the Supreme Court Monday, featuring Republican senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah.
The list, compiled with a focus on originalism and a constitutionalist judicial philosophy, includes “some of our nation’s brightest judicial minds,” Ramaswamy said in a statement. Along with his list of Supreme Court candidates, Ramaswamy released a list of seven potential nominees for the U.S. Courts of Appeal, including Northern District of Texas judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who oversaw a case challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of birth control pills.
“Our courts are the last line of defense against an increasingly hostile federal government that seeks to curtail our freedoms,” Ramaswamy said in a statement. “That’s why it’s more important than ever that we elect a President who will appoint judges and justices to the federal bench to safeguard the values and ideals our nation was founded on.”
In addition to Cruz and Lee, Ramaswamy named Fifth Circuit Judge James Ho, Ninth Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke, Eleventh Circuit Judge Lisa Branch, Third Circuit Judge Thomas Hardiman, D.C. Circuit Judge Justin Walker, Sixth Circuit Judge John Bush and former George W. Bush administration Solicitor General Paul Clement.
Cruz, Lee, Ho, VanDyke, Clement and Hardiman have all made former president Donald Trump’s lists of potential nominees from 2016, 2017 or 2020.
“These men and women are committed to our Constitution, the rule of law, and individual liberty,” Ramaswamy continued. “I will rely on this short list when deciding who to appoint to the highest courts in our land.”
Ramaswamy also released a list of potential federal appeals court nominees, including Martha Pacold, District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois; Sarah Pitlyk, District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri judge; Kathryn Mizelle, District Judge for the Middle District of Florida; Matthew Kacsmaryk, District Judge for the Northern District of Texas; Brantley Starr, District Judge for the Northern District of Texas; Stephen Alexander Vaden, judge for the U.S. Court of International Trade; and Ryan Holte, judge for the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has already said he would “do better” than Trump in appointing justices, revealing his choices would be closer to Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, who he called the “gold standard.” In May, he suggested the next president may have the opportunity to appoint a 7-2 conservative majority.
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