President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced an additional list of potential Supreme Court justices should he be re-elected in November. During an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, the president explained why justices are important to the American public and why he decided to release the list.
"Outside of war and peace, the most important thing a president can do is elect Supreme Court justices and judges," Trump explained.
According to the president, by the end of his first term in office, he will have had over 300 federal judges nominated and confirmed, which is a record. That's on top of the confirmation of Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neigh Gorsuch.
"The whole country depends on these decisions, which way you go, whether you have a Second Amendment or not," Trump said. "... These judges are going to be making massive decisions and the next president is going to get one, two, three or four justices on the Supreme Court. I have two. That's actually considered a lot."
Trump reminded Hannity that most presidents have gone their entire presidency without having an opportunity to nominate justices to the high court.
"They stay on there for a long time," he said, referencing justices who are appointed for life. "They stay on there for a long time and they stay on there for a long time."
Should another one to four justices be put onto the Supreme Court, the "entire fabric of the nation for many years."
Because justices serve for life and most are appointed at a young age, they serve for decades.
"They're on the Court 25, 30, 40 years, depending on the age, depending on what age you choose and, frankly, most of them are young because you want to pick young. You want them on as long as you can have them on," the president said. "It's a very, very important thing that's happening."
Trump pledged to pick a nominee solely from the list of 43 people he has previously announced. He said former Vice President Joe Biden needs to release a list of potential nominees so voters have an idea of who he would nominate.
President @realDonaldTrump: The most important thing a president does is select Supreme Court Justices and Federal Judges pic.twitter.com/e1W73xRJOw
— Team Trump (Text VOTE to 88022) (@TeamTrump) September 10, 2020