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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Supreme Court Justice Tom Lee made Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's list of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees.
Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, unveiled a list of 11 candidates Wednesday that he intends to vet to replace the late Antonin Scalia if he's elected to the White House.
Trump said in statement that the list "is representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value" and said that, as president, he would use it "as a guide to nominate our next United States Supreme Court justices."
Lee is the brother of Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and the son of the late Rex E. Lee, who served as U.S. solicitor general in the Ronald Reagan administration.
"I don't know everyone on the list, but those I do know would all be great Supreme Court justices," Mike Lee said. "Of course I do believe one name on that list stands head and shoulders above the rest."
National conservatives were pushing Trump earlier this year to consider Mike Lee to fill the vacancy. But the senator's office said he already has the job he wants and is looking forward to advancing his conservative reform agenda in the Senate.
Gov. Gary Herbert appointed Tom Lee to the Utah Supreme Court, where he currently serves as associate chief justice, in July 2010.
Lee graduated from the University of Chicago Law School. After law school, he served as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He also worked in private practice, served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice civil division and taught law at Brigham Young University.
Trump said he compiled the list based on constitutional principles, with input from "highly respected" conservatives and Republican Party leadership.
In addition to Lee, on the list of federal and state judges are: Steven Colloton of Iowa, Allison Eid of Colorado, Raymond Gruender of Missouri, Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, Joan Larsen of Michigan, William Pryor of Alabama, David Stras of Minnesota, Diane Sykes of Wisconsin and Don Willett of Texas.
Trump has said he would like to appoint judges in the mold of the deeply conservative Scalia, who died in February.
In the statement, he described Scalia as "a remarkable person and a brilliant Supreme Court justice."
"His career was defined by his reverence for the Constitution and his legacy of protecting Americans' most cherished freedoms," Trump said. "He was a justice who did not believe in legislating from the bench and he is a person whom I held in the highest regard and will always greatly respect his intelligence and conviction to uphold the Constitution of our country."
