Leonard Leo, President Donald Trump’s advisor on judicial nominations, said on Monday that the president is "very confident that any of the finalists will be confirmed by the Senate."
Leo appeared on Fox News’s "America’s Newsroom" where he argued the anticipated confirmation battle to name the next Supreme Court justice will not be uniquely contentious.
"Every confirmation battle is a big one these days and [Trump] knows that," said Leo. "But he is also very confident that under the leadership of Senator McConnell this is something that can happen swiftly by the first Monday of October when the court begins to meet."
Trump is due to announce a replacement for retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy at 9:00 p.m. EST on Monday.
The president has narrowed down a list of prospective nominees to four judges: Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Thomas Hardiman, and Raymond Kethledge. Leo said "the president is doing a great job limiting the list down to those four."
Barrett came to prominence during a Senate hearing for her nomination to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) said during the hearing that Barrett's past speeches revealed "the dogma lives loudly within [her]." A former clerk for the late justice Antonin Scalia, as well as a professor at Notre Dame Law School, she has become a target of the left because of her social conservatism.
Kavanaugh clerked for Kennedy and worked in the George W. Bush administration. He faced a grueling nomination battle after Bush appointed him to the D.C. Circuit Court in 2003. Kavanaugh is considered a front-runner for the nomination, but some conservatives have questioned whether he is the best choice.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) has told Trump that Kethledge and Hardiman would have the smoothest path to confirmation in the Senate, according to GOP officials with knowledge of the discussions. Kethledge, another former clerk to Kennedy, has garnered less attention than Barrett and Kavanaugh. Hardiman was under serious consideration to replace Justice Scalia, before Trump ultimately selected Neil Gorsuch.
Many Democratic senators, hoping they can take control of the Senate after November's midterm elections, have urged delaying a vote on Kennedy’s replacement. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) told CNN "the American people really deserve a voice in this decision, and so the confirmation vote should take place after the election, after the new Congress is seated."