President Trump’s latest list of prospective Supreme Court nominees includes three U.S. senators: Josh Hawley of Missouri, Ted Cruz of Texas and Tom Cotton of Arkansas. This shows the president understands the need to appoint constitutional conservatives whose views won’t “evolve” once they are on the court. The response to this suggestion will be that it would “politicize the court.” Yet the Supreme Court is already highly political. There is substantial precedent for justices to have held elective office before appointment to the Supreme Court. These include Chief Justices John Jay (president of the Second Continental Congress), John Marshall (Virginia delegate and U.S. representative), William Howard Taft (president) and Earl Warren (California attorney general and governor), as well as several associate justices.

Source: Wall Street Journal September 13, 2020 20:26 UTC