The good reporters at Axios have another great scoop about Trump and the Supreme Court.
The reporters from Axios have an incredible record of getting stories right, so if they are running this you can take it to the bank.
That said, Ruth Ginsburg is still on the court, but if Trump wins the next election all bets are off. Expect the left to fight this choice harder than they did Kavanaugh.
From Axios:
As he was deliberating last year over replacing Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, President Trump told confidants he had big plans for Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
“I’m saving her for Ginsburg,” Trump said of Barrett, according to three sources familiar with the president’s private comments. Trump used that exact line with a number of people, including in a private conversation with an adviser two days before announcing Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination.
Barrett is a favorite among conservative activists, many of whom wanted her to take Kennedy’s spot.
She’s young and proudly embraces her Catholic faith. Her past academic writings suggest an openness to overturning Roe v. Wade.
Her nomination would throw gas on the culture-war fires, which Trump relishes. But Trump chose to wait.
Some Trump advisers worried Barrett’s staunch opposition to abortion rights would lose the votes of Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). But there wasn’t consensus; some advisers argued they would ultimately “do the right thing” and vote for Barrett.
Trump came to doubt that “the women” (his shorthand for Collins and Murkowski) would support Barrett, according to sources who discussed the situation with Trump at the time.
Some of Trump’s aides also felt confident about picking up more Senate seats in the 2018 midterms (which they did), meaning a more conservative pick might stand a better chance later.
Yes, but: There’s no guarantee Trump will get another Supreme Court pick. It’s very unlikely Ginsburg will retire while he’s in office. And though she’s 86 and has had 3 bouts with cancer, she’s on the bench now and appears healthy.
Barrett isn’t a lock even if Trump does get to make another appointment, the people familiar with his thinking said.
Barrett has the inside track “in a very specific sense,” said a source who’s discussed Barrett with Trump. “She is the most known quantity right now amongst the women on the list. … And she also has the inside track in the sense that she was kind of battle-tested for having gone through a confirmation already.”
