Vivek Ramaswamy shares his top Supreme Court choices.
Fresh off high-profile appearances in Iowa and Florida, 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign has issued a list of potential Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals appointees.
The Supreme Court shortlist includes two names that should be familiar to many Americans: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who was a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2016, and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).
Recent Supreme Court decisions on abortion, “President Biden’s focus on judicial appointments appeared to be on diversity of race & gender,” Mr. Ramaswamy said in a statement accompanying his list. President Joe Biden selected current Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson after pledging he’d pick a black woman for the slot. Others have voiced concerns over the Biden administration’s apparent prioritization of demographics over merit or other factors in judicial selection. “While I drew from diverse experiences–current and former federal judges, a former Solicitor General, two U.S. Senators–my sole criterion was to select candidates with an unwavering commitment to an originalist understanding of the U.S. Constitution, who also understand the unique threats to liberty in the 21st century (including lurking state action),” Mr. Ramaswamy said in his statement. Originalists seek to interpret the Constitution as it was understood when originally drafted. Closely associated with former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and current Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the originalist judicial philosophy contrasts with “living constitutionalism,” a position advocated by former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Living constitutionalists contend that changing views among the general public should be able to alter how the Constitution is interpreted. Mr. Ramaswamy’s focus on originalism appears to have influenced his choice of Mr. Lee. His email outlining the list cites a commentary on the “Take Care Act,” introduced in 2019 by Mr. Lee and Mr. Ramaswamy’s fellow Yale Law School alumnus Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). The bill would have empowered the president to remove the officers appointed with Senate advice and consent. Mr. Lee, who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, said the bill restored Article II powers held by the president until a 1935 Supreme Court decision, Humphrey’s Executor v. United States. As for Mr. Cruz, Mr. Ramaswamy’s email refers to a religious liberty award the lawmaker received from the American Legion. The aspiring commander-in-chief’s list also includes Paul Clement, who served as solicitor general under George W. Bush. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James Ho, who was appointed to that position by former President Donald J. Trump, also made the cut. The campaign email outlining the list refers to Mr. Ho’s opinion in the lower court case that preceded Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court decision overturning the Roe v. Wade precedent on abortion. It also references his June 2020 While Mr. Ho did not dispute that the appeal was moot, he voiced concerns about what many perceived as hypocrisy from public officials regarding public gatherings at the height of the George Floyd protests. “In recent weeks, officials have not only tolerated protests—they have encouraged them as necessary and important expressions of outrage over abuses of government power,” he wrote. “For people of faith demoralized by coercive shutdown policies, that raises a question: If officials are now exempting protesters, how can they justify continuing to restrict worshippers? The answer is that they can’t. Government does not have carte blanche, even in a pandemic, to pick and choose which First Amendment rights are ‘open’ and which remain ‘closed,’” Mr. Ho continued. In addition, the Ramaswamy list names Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Thomas Hardiman. Mr. Clement, Mr. Lee, Mr.
Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 27, 2018. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia gives the keynote speech at the Snake River Adjudication celebration dinner at the Boise Center on the Grove in Boise, Idaho, on Aug. 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Otto Kitsinger)
A shop owner looks over damage in a looted souvenir and electronics shop near Times Square after a night of protests and vandalism over the death of George Floyd, in New York, on June 2, 2020. (John Moore/Getty Images)
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