Trump Must Stick to His Supreme Court List

It’s what he campaigned on, and it was crucial in reassuring the conservatives who helped elect him.

Presumably, as you read this, the White House is setting up its war room for the Supreme Court confirmation battle to come. The interns are stocking the mini fridges and hanging the musk-masking air fresheners that are de rigueur for any top-flight political bunker.

But before the administration goes to the mattresses, it first must pick a nominee. And that is why I hope White House counsel Don McGahn, who’s leading the search, is hanging a sign for all to see: “It’s the list, stupid.”

Over the next week, the White House will come under incredible pressure from the news media, the Democrats, and some Republicans (pro-choice and abortion-squeamish) to abandon the list of potential Supreme Court nominees President Trump campaigned on (and later expanded slightly). On Sunday, Republican senator Susan Collins of Maine said on ABC’s This Week that the president “should not feel bound” by the list.

Yes, yes he should.

All presidents claim broad mandates for virtually all their campaign promises. But the president has no clearer decree than fidelity to this list.

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