*By Christian Smith*
No matter which judge President Donald Trump chooses from his Supreme Court shortlist, they will all have a similar impact on America's highest court, says UC-Irvine law professor Rick Hasen.
"They're all very conservative," Hasen said of federal judges Brett Kavanaugh, Raymond Kethledge, and Amy Coney Barrett, whose names are [most often cited](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/schumer-urges-trump-to-tap-merrick-garland-for-supreme-court/2018/07/05/ca12f0be-805e-11e8-b0ef-fffcabeff946_story.html?utm_term=.f37ee02ac02c) as being at the top of the president's list to fill the seat being vacated by Justice Anthony Kennedy.
"They're all likely to be on the same side on issues involving abortion, on issues involving voting rights, on issues involving affirmative action. The kinds of things where Justice Kennedy was the swing justice, all three of these are likely to be pretty much the same."
Judging from the comments of TV pundits and news reporters, the betting seems strong that Trump will wind up choosing Judge Kavanaugh, a federal appeals court judge who sits on the District of Columbia circuit. Hasen says picking Kavanaugh would make sense because "he's very much like Neil Gorsuch," Trump's first Supreme Court nominee, who, like Kavanaugh, also has "very well respected Ivy League pedigree."
The eventual nominee will only need 50 votes to be confirmed, thanks to rules adopted by Senate leadership in 2017. Vice President Mike Pence would serve as the tiebreaker if the votes are split.
Two Senators who could make or break any of these nominees' chances are Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). Both are pro-choice Republicans, which means the question of overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court case establishing a woman's right to have an abortion, will likely take center stage in the confirmation hearing process.
President Trump is expected to announce his nominee in a prime-time ceremony Monday night.
For the full segment [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/president-trumps-supreme-court-shortlist-gets-shorter)
A Texas judge has ruled that Infowars host Alex Jones cannot use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying more than $1.1 billion to families who sued over his conspiracy theories that the Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax.
Former President Donald Trump was fined $5,000 on Friday after a disparaging social media post about a key court staffer in his New York civil fraud case was allowed to linger on his campaign website after the judge ordered it deleted.
Lawyer Kenneth Chesebro pleaded guilty to a felony on Friday just as jury selection was getting underway in his trial on charges accusing him of participating in efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election in Georgia.
Republicans dropped Rep. Jim Jordan on Friday as their nominee for House speaker, making the decision during a closed-door session after the hard-edged ally of Donald Trump failed badly on a third ballot for the gavel.
Canada has removed 41 of its diplomats from India as tensions rise between the two nations.
Mitt Romney said he believes right-wing media is the reason for the radicalization of the GOP party.
An Army private who fled to North Korea before being returned home to the United States last month has been detained by the U.S. military, two officials said Thursday night, and is facing charges including desertion and possessing sexual images of a child.
Israel bombarded Gaza early Friday, hitting areas in the south where Palestinians had been told to seek safety, and it began evacuating a sizable Israeli town in the north near the Lebanese border, the latest sign of a potential ground invasion of Gaza that could trigger regional turmoil.
The Justice Department has secured a $9 million settlement with Ameris Bank over allegations that it avoided underwriting mortgages in predominately Black and Latino communities in Jacksonville, Florida, and discouraged people there from getting home loans.
Israel pounded the Gaza Strip with airstrikes on Thursday, including in the south where Palestinians were told to take refuge, and the country's defense minister told ground troops to “be ready” to invade, though he didn’t say when.
