Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump took the unusual step Friday of adding names to the roster of potential Supreme Court justices he distributed during his run for office, even though the court has no current vacancies and no justices have announced their intentions to retire.

The names supplement a list Trump released during last year's presidential campaign of conservative jurists whom he would consider nominating to the high court should a vacancy arise. Trump nominated one of those judges, Neil Gorsuch , earlier this year to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

When Trump originally released his list last year, the court was short a justice. But the bench is now full, making Friday's release peculiar.

The White House didn't immediately say why it decided to add names to its list now, though top administration officials -- including Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House counsel Don McGahn -- were addressing the Federalist Society in Washington on Friday.

The five names added to the list would appeal to the conservative legal group.

Read More