Monday morning, while the sun still shined and President Donald Trump’s supreme court nomination was more than nine hours away from being unveiled, Sen. Bob Casey issued a statement.
Casey made it clear he would oppose any selection by the president, calling it “outrageous that President Trump will nominate from a list of just 25 dictated to him” by the conservative Heritage Foundation.
That, Casey said, is “a corrupt bargain.”
The list, which was first unveiled during the 2016 campaign, is no secret. In fact, the Heritage Foundation on its website takes credit for the influence one of its experts, John Malcolm, had on then-candidate Trump’s potential nominees to the court.
To say that the Foundation dictated the list is not strictly correct. The equally conservative Federalist Society also played a role.
More important still was the role played by campaign lawyer (and now White House counsel) Donald McGahn, who has been the curator of the list, which has expanded from 11 to 25. He was a chosen advisor to Trump.
Already one of the list men, Neil Gorsuch, has been named to the court by Trump. Brett Kavanaugh, nominated by Trump Monday to succeed the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, would be the second.
It is no surprise that Democrats are not fans of the list, being…
