US president Donald Trump has said he plans to announce his choice to succeed retiring supreme court Justice Anthony Kennedy on July 9th, adding that two women are among his top candidates for the job.

The president, who spoke aboard Air Force One on the way to his golf club in New Jersey, said he had identified a group of at least five potential candidates for the nation’s high court and he may interview as many as seven.

Mr Kennedy, a key swing vote on the court, announced that he would retire this summer.

Mr Kennedy’s news that he will leave the court next month immediately activated a network of White House aides, congressional allies and outside advocates, all set for their second supreme court confirmation fight in two years.

Mr Trump told reporters he planned to begin interviewing possible candidates on Monday but he may meet with some over the weekend in New Jersey.

“It’s a great group of intellectual talent,” Mr Trump said.

Asked if he planned to question potential court nominees their views on abortion rights and Roe v Wade, he responded, “That’s not a question I’ll be asking.”

“I think it’s inappropriate to discuss,” he added.

Mr Trump has acted quickly on his selection process.

He met Thursday evening at the White House with key senators — Republicans Chuck Grassley, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski and Democrats Joe Manchin, Joe Donnelly and Heidi Heitkamp — to discuss the vacancy.

The White House said Mr Trump’s team also spoke with more than a dozen additional senators.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has committed to confirming a nominee in the autumn, which the Republican-controlled Senate should be able to do if Mr McConnell can hold his razor-thin majority together.

Mr Trump has promised to draw the next justice from a list of 25 prospective candidates that was first established during the 2016 presidential campaign and updated last autumn. That list includes six women.

Some possible nominees being eyed include Thomas Hardiman, who serves alongside Mr Trump’s sister on the Philadelphia-based 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals, and Raymond Kethledge, a federal appeals court judge who clerked for Mr Kennedy.

Also of interest are Amul Thapar, who serves on the federal appeals court in Cincinnati, lives in Kentucky and is close to Mr McConnell; Brett Kavanaugh, a former clerk for Kennedy who serves on the federal appeals court in Washington DC; and Amy Coney Barrett, who serves on the federal appeals court in Chicago. –PA