replace anthony kennedy on the supreme court, who will he nominate. we mentioned those names, kavanaugh, barrett, kethledge. is the sense that the president has made his mind up or is this still a live process? as far as we know, it s a live process. there s been a lot of bouncing back and forth this week, focusing on either cavanaugh or kethledge. cavanaugh had some issues earlier in the week. there were some concerns raised by some republican senators, most notably rand paul, about some of the decisions and views that cavanaugh had expressed. my sense is that the white house feels like that s under control now and the president can make a decision on a level playing field and feel confident that whomever he picks, he can get the nominee through the senate. but i think right now you most likely are looking at either a
he has a list of three finalists, brett kavanaugh, amy coney barrett, and raymond kethledge. joining me now is a supreme court reporter for bloomberg news. greg, great to speak with you here. i want to get your sense of what the president is weighing at this point in time. we have this long list since when the campaign was under way. the president has teased how it s being shortened. there s a lot of politicking in terms of who backs whom. sure. in terms of what kind of justice they re likely to be, it s a pretty narrow band. all these people are clearly conservative. the differences are primarily style and perhaps some politics. amy coney barrett who you listed there, as an academic has written and said some things that make it clear she is morally opposed to abortion. it would be hard to portray her as someone who would not vote to
overturn roe v. wade. brett kavanaugh, a judge here in washington, might be perceived as a little more moderate and may make it a little bit easier for some of the senators who might be on the fence to vote for him. how much does academic pedigree matter? this is a president who often talks about his tenure at the wharton school of finance, as he calls it, using the old term for the school at the university of pennsylvania. he cares about who has what degrees. you mentioned judge kethledge, he s a wolverine through and through. some of the others on the short list did not go to ivy league schools. how much does that matter to the republican establishment and to this president, as you look at a supreme court who is composed entirely of folks who went to harvard or yale law schools? i m told judge kavanaugh has the inside track. that doesn t mean he s going to get it. he went to yale undergrad and
north korea talks, later in the show. let s turn our attention to the supreme court, president trump teasing the fact that on monday night, 9:00 p.m. eastern time, with grand flair, he ll announce his pick to replace justice anthony kennedy in the east room of the white house. what do we know about what the president is doing over the weekend as he looks ahead to that decision, geoff? we know he s in bedminster meeting with his team of advisers. he had dinner last night with the vice president who met with the three finalists, kavanaugh, barrett, and kethledge, all three of whom are acceptable to conservatives. judge kavanaugh has the longest record that the president and his advisers can mine to make sure whoever the president nominates will be the kind of justice he wants to sit on the court. the conventional wisdom at this point says that ckavanaugh probably has the inside edge
smart enough to do it right where is he going to get a judge who is not going to disappoint on any issue. abby: like kavanaugh raymond kethledge was a clerk for justice kennedy. a michigan man. he was a fisherman. is he a big hunter. reading about him yesterday, he has a great story to testament apparently he is quite likeable. he was a busboy and waiter to get himself through college. what do you think about kethledge? many people think he is the frontrunner. like judge barrett and like judge kavanaugh. judge kethledge had a controversial confirmation hearing. he was not george bush s original choice filibustered for five years and kethledge himself was filibustered. all three of these people including judge kethledge would be have the benefit of having been through the ringer of a difficult confirmation hearing. judge kethledge is smart. judge deat kethledge is conservative. one thing that distinguishes