Rumors are already running rampant through Washington D.C. after Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement Wednesday afternoon.
President Trump will nominate a replacement "immediately," and he'll be choosing from a list compiled during his 2016 campaign.
One of the names on the list, which includes 25 individuals, is Utah's Republican Senator Mike Lee. According to reporters who passed him in the hallway on Capitol Hill today, he's not opposed to the idea.
Lee: “I started watching Supreme Court arguments for fun when I was 10 years old. So if somebody asked me if I would consider that I would not say no. But the president’s got a decision to make and I trust his ability to make it and make it well.”
— Erica Werner (@ericawerner) June 27, 2018
NEWS: @SenMikeLee interested if Trump wants to nominate him for SCOTUS. “Of course,” he said when I asked via text. Ex-Alito clerk. Grew up in McLean, VA, and started attending SCOTUS hearings when he as 10 years old “for fun,” he says. Lee is on WH list of potential noms.
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) June 27, 2018
Utah Sen. Mike Lee tells @FoxReports "I would not say no" to SCOTUS nomination
— David Wright (@DavidWright_CNN) June 27, 2018
Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a student of late-Justice Antonin Scalia, is advocating for the idea.
"The best choice that President Trump could make is Mike Lee because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mike Lee would be faithful to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights," Cruz said during an interview with Fox News. "He's not going to evolve."
Here's some of Lee's bio from his Senate page:
Lee graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science, and served as BYU's Student Body President in his senior year. He graduated from BYU's Law School in 1997 and went on to serve as law clerk to Judge Dee Benson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, and then with future Supreme Court Justice Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Lee spent several years as an attorney with the law firm Sidley & Austin specializing in appellate and Supreme Court litigation, and then served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Salt Lake City arguing cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Lee served the state of Utah as Governor Jon Huntsman's General Counsel and was later honored to reunite with Justice Alito, now on the Supreme Court, for a one-year clerkship. He returned to private practice in 2007.
Throughout his career, Lee earned a reputation as an outstanding practitioner of the law based on his sound judgment, abilities in the courtroom, and thorough understanding of the Constitution.
Today, Lee fights to preserve America's proud founding document in the United States Senate. He advocates efforts to support constitutionally limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual liberty, and economic prosperity.