• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'

2

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 

3

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

1

Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'

2

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 

3

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
LeadershipSupreme Court

Conservatives Feel Happy About Trump’s Supreme Court Options

By
The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 28, 2017, 1:22 PM ET
Supreme Court Blocks Virginia Gay Marriages
Photograph by Mark Wilson — Getty Images

Conservatives’ wishes for the next Supreme Court justice boil down to a few words: no more Souters.

The reference is to former Justice David Souter, dubbed by a White House aide as a “home run” for conservatives when he was nominated by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 to replace the liberal William Brennan. As it turned out, Souter generally was a liberal vote for most of his 18 years on the court.

But conservatives who care about the court say they have no such worry this time around. They feel confident that whomever President Donald Trump nominates for the Supreme Court, they won’t be looking back with regret in the years to come.

The leading contenders from a list of 21 names Trump rolled out during his campaign are three federal appeals courts judges who have met with Trump: Neil Gorsuch, Thomas Hardiman and William Pryor, according to a person who is familiar with the process. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss about internal decisions.

Trump said he plans to announce his choice on Thursday, and told Fox News that he has basically settled on a nominee, “subject to change at the last moment.”

“They all would be excellent, excellent choices. They were all specifically chosen with the president’s commitment in mind” to choose a justice who would be similar to Antonin Scalia, who died nearly a year ago, said Carrie Severino, a conservative activist and former law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas.

Trump’s Plan for the Supreme Court and 5 Leading Candidates Right Now

That has not always been the case when Republican presidents have had a chance to leave their mark on the court.

Souter was one of five justices put on the nine-member court by Republican presidents over a 12-year span. While the court moved to the right in that period, it did not become the conservative bulwark those presidents hoped for.

The court’s 1992 decision reaffirming the right to an abortion, for which Souter wrote the majority opinion along with Reagan appointees Sandra Day O’Connor and Anthony Kennedy, was an enormous disappointment to abortion opponents who had thought they had a court majority to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Souter, a state judge in New Hampshire and briefly a federal appeals court judge, became the symbol of what Republicans were supposed to avoid, a “stealth” candidate with a scant record of dealing with the range of issues that come before the high court.

While serving as Alabama’s attorney general before becoming a judge, Pryor in fact once wrapped up a speech with a prayer for “no more Souters.” He later said he was joking, but the subject is no laughing matter to conservatives.

Why Mike Pence’s Speech at March for Life Is a Big Deal

Usually less than a quarter of the court’s cases end up with liberals and conservatives on opposite sides, but those are the ones, including abortion, gay rights and guns, that people care most about, said the John Malcolm of the right-leaning Heritage Foundation.

“That’s why the ‘no more Souters’ thing is very real,” he said. “There are only nine of them and they serve for a very long time.”

Gorsuch, Hardiman and Pryor have been judges for 10 years or longer, and have the paper trail that Souter lacked.

“It’s not surprising that when we get to down what looks like the real short list, it’s appeals court judges. That’s about being absolutely sure we’ve got the record straight,” said Christine Nemacheck, a government professor at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and the author of a book about the Supreme Court selection process.

Supreme Court Takes Up Suit Over 2001 Detention of Muslims

A recent study of the potential choices puts Gorsuch and Pryor high on a scale of judges whose approach to the law resembles Scalia’s in their fealty to the text of the Constitution and to laws as they were understood when written. Hardiman more resembles Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito in that regard, lead author Jeremey Kidd said.

“We wanted to show what it would mean to a general fan of Scalia to have someone like him,” said Kidd, a professor at the Mercer University law school in Macon, Georgia.

“I personally know a good two or three dozen people who voted for Trump solely because they thought he’d be better on Supreme Court justices,” Kidd said.

A fifth of voters nationwide said Supreme Court appointments were the most important factor in determining their presidential vote, and nearly 6 in 10 of them backed Trump, according to Election Day exit polls.

For more on the Supreme Court, watch:

Souter is not the only justice who has disappointed conservatives.

Kennedy has sided with the liberal justices on gay rights, as well as some cases involving race, the death penalty and the rights of people detained without charge at the Guantanamo Bay naval base.

Even Roberts has lost favor among some conservatives, principally for the two opinions he wrote that preserved President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. During the campaign, Trump himself called Roberts “an absolute disaster.”

About the Author
By The Associated Press
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Leadership

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Leadership

matthew prince
AILayoffs
Cloudflare posted record revenue, then cut 20% of its workforce. CEO Matthew Prince says AI has made an entire category of workers obsolete
By Jake AngeloMay 21, 2026
5 hours ago
Meta laid off 10% of its workforce as Mark Zuckerberg warns that in the AI race ‘success isn’t a given’
AILayoffs
Meta laid off 10% of its workforce as Mark Zuckerberg warns that in the AI race ‘success isn’t a given’
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezMay 21, 2026
7 hours ago
ro khanna
AITech
Ro Khanna blames ‘clueless’ boomers for Gen Z booing AI: They handed over a ‘broken economy’
By Jake AngeloMay 21, 2026
8 hours ago
Young worker looking tired in front of a screen
EconomyYoung workers
A Nobel economist figured out 60 years ago that people learn best on the job. The Atlanta Fed says AI is making that almost impossible
By Tristan BoveMay 21, 2026
9 hours ago
Intuit CFO on why the company is simplifying its structure
NewslettersCFO Daily
Intuit CFO on why the company is simplifying its structure
By Sheryl EstradaMay 21, 2026
10 hours ago
Anu Madgavkar, a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute
AIWorkplace Innovation Summit
McKinsey partner says up to 50% of work hours could be transformed within the next 5 years
By Emma BurleighMay 21, 2026
10 hours ago

Most Popular

Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'
Success
Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'
By Preston ForeMay 20, 2026
1 day ago
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
Workplace Culture
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
By Preston ForeMay 19, 2026
2 days ago
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
Success
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
By Preston ForeMay 21, 2026
11 hours ago
Pay transparency is exposing a bigger problem: Most companies can't explain why they pay what they pay
Workplace Culture
Pay transparency is exposing a bigger problem: Most companies can't explain why they pay what they pay
By Sydney LakeMay 20, 2026
1 day ago
Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics
Future of Work
Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics
By Mike Householder and The Associated PressMay 17, 2026
4 days ago
A 'proudly autistic' workplace expert says putting neurodivergent employees in a typical office is like dropping a polar bear in Austin, Texas
Conferences
A 'proudly autistic' workplace expert says putting neurodivergent employees in a typical office is like dropping a polar bear in Austin, Texas
By Tristan BoveMay 20, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.