President-elect Donald Trump says he expects to nominate new Supreme Court justice within two weeks of inauguration.
Trump says at a news conference Wednesday: “We’ve met with numerous candidates. They’re outstanding in every case.”
The president-elect said voters supported him in part because he would nominate a conservative justice for the Supreme Court to replace Antonin Scalia. Scalia’s death in early 2016 created a vacancy that was kept open as Senate Republicans blocked a hearing for Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s nominee.
Trump said he had received recommendations for nominees from the conservative and libertarian Federalist Society and Jim DeMint, a former Republican senator from South Carolina who now leads the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Trump said that he plans to start signing bills on the Monday after the January 20 inauguration.
(AP)