NEW ORLEANS — With the news of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death Friday, speculation has already begun about President Trump’s possible nominee to replace her on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Earlier this month, the president released a list of 23 potential Supreme Court nominees. Four of them have New Orleans or Louisiana ties.
Two judges who were considered by the president for previous vacancies remain on his most recent list: Judges Amy Coney Barrett and Willam Pryor.
Barrett is a Metairie native who attended St. Catherine of Siena for elementary school and graduated from St. Mary’s Dominican High School. Since 2017 she has served on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.
Barrett, a Rhodes College and University of Notre Dame law school graduate, spent two decades as a law professor at Notre Dame. She also spent several years in private practice. She also clerked for Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.
The mother of seven children, Barrett was a finalist for Trump's second high court nomination, which ultimately went to Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. She is one of four women on the president’s current list.
Pryor is a graduate of the University of Louisiana Monroe who earned his law degree from Tulane University. He previously served as a law clerk to renowned Judge John Minor Wisdom of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. A former Alabama Attorney General, Pryor is now Chief Judge of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. He was appointed by President George W. Bush.
Two current judges on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is based in New Orleans, are on the president’s list. They are Judge James Ho and Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan. Both were Trump appointees who joined the court in 2018. Duncan, a Baton Rouge native, is an LSU graduate who previously served as Appellate Chief for the state Attorney General’s Office. Earlier in his career, he also clerked for clerked for Circuit Judge John Duhe Jr. of the 5th Circuit Court.
