After meeting Marie Louise Gorsuch and picking up on the easy chemistry between the homemaker and her husband, President Donald Trump requested that she stand next to Neil Gorsuch during his nomination speech to the Supreme Court.

Trump’s delight in what he considered the picture-perfect couple, recounted by a Republican close to the White House familiar with the proceedings, is now resurfacing as the process of filling a second Supreme Court opening plays out like a political campaign, with attention to the whole package, including a potential nominee's appearance as well as the look and feel of his or her family.


The process has elite lawyers gaming out what attributes — even those that have nothing to do with a person’s qualifications to sit on the nation’s highest court — might vault a candidate to the top of Trump’s list, and weighing them against the traditional qualifications for the role. What is emerging is a process unique to Trump as potential nominees are increasingly running two different campaigns: one aimed at the president and one aimed at senators.

“Beyond the qualifications, what really matters is, does this nominee fit a central casting image for a Supreme Court nominee, as well as his or her spouse,” the Republican close to the White House said. “That's a big deal. Do they fit the role?”

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A picture of front-runner Brett Kavanaugh that has been circulating in Trump circles underscores how what matters to Trump is often very different from what matters to the Senate.

President George W. Bush watches the swearing-in of Brett Kavanaugh as Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia by U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy on June 1, 2006. Holding the Bible is Kavanaugh's wife, Ashley Kavanaugh. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo

In the photo, Kavanaugh is being sworn in by Justice Kennedy to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, while his wife, Ashley, dressed in a crisp, pale pink suit and pearls, holds the Bible under his hand and smiles.

“It looks all-American,” said one person, who noted that would be a plus in Trump’s book. For Kavanaugh, however, the problem stands to his right in the photo: President George W. Bush is smiling, too. And a few questions about the wife in the picture would reveal deep ties to the Bush family.

Kavanaugh rose to serve as Bush’s staff secretary, but it’s his wife who is closer with the Bush family: she followed George W. Bush to Washington from the Texas governor’s office, served as his personal secretary for years, and has a close, personal relationship with the Bush family — a fact Republicans close to the White House said would be a mark against Kavanaugh in Trump’s thinking.

It’s a part of Kavanaugh’s bio that has nothing to do with his qualifications to become a Supreme Court justice. But his family’s ties to the Bush family are expected to matter to Trump, who sees that dynasty as the embodiment of the Republican establishment that still doesn’t take him seriously.

"There's a primary and there's a general election, and what helps you in one often hurts you in another,” said David Lat, founding editor of the legal news site Above The Law. “Right now, the surrogates for all of these candidates know their audience is the base and the White House."

For example: In Kavanaugh’s legal writings on presidential power, he writes that presidents should be excused from responding to criminal charges while in office. That could be a plus for a president whose favorite exclamation is “Witch Hunt!” But it could also be a red flag for Democrats in the Senate who want to protect special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation.

Meanwhile, the woman said to be in second place, Amy Coney Barrett, could face a divisive confirmation hearing in front of the Senate if Democrats choose to grill the devout Catholic about her stance on abortion. For Trump, that’s the crux of what makes her a star with his base. But it’s her résumé that isn’t particularly appealing. Barrett is an alumnus of Rhodes College and Notre Dame Law School; she lacks the Harvard and Yale degrees Trump has said he is looking for in a nominee.

In her interview with Trump, Barrett, who has only one year of experience on the bench, performed poorly, according to a second source familiar with the process.

But tapping Barrett could have a galvanizing effect on the president's base. She became a hero to evangelicals last year after a dust-up with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who pressed her about the influence of her Catholicism on her legal opinions. Matthew Continetti, editor of the Washington Free Beacon, said in a podcast that Barrett's nomination would have the same effect as John McCain's decision in 2008 to nominate Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential nominee: igniting the Republican base as well as the Democratic opposition.

Trump is more interested in “the nonlegal, superficial and shallow,” said Brian Fallon, executive director of Demand Justice, a new nonprofit attempting to influence the Senate on judicial nominees. “He cares about not being a Bush person, an Ivy League background, someone who looks the part and someone who everyone is going to say good things about.”

White House spokesman Raj Shah said that is an inaccurate way to think about the process. “The president’s nominee to replace Justice Kennedy will have tremendous intellect, judicial temperament and impeccable qualifications,” Shah said. “He or she above all will have a duty to uphold the law and the Constitution.”

But Trump’s ability to factor in what Fallon calls the “superficial” aspects of a potential nominee’s profile, Republicans said, is a luxury bestowed on him by the Federalist Society, which put together a list of qualified conservative judges for Trump to choose from. As long as he sticks to the list, as he has promised to do, Trump is free to worry about optics and politics, knowing whoever he picks has already been vetted, insiders familiar with the process said.

Leonard Leo, the executive vice president of the Federalist Society, who serves as Trump’s top judicial adviser, however, dismissed the idea that Kavanaugh would be disqualified because of his wife’s close ties to the Bush family. He called the notion “ridiculous.”

Another top candidate, Raymond Kethledge, is also seen as on the rise in Trump’s sweepstakes — in part because his background is seen as one that is appealing both to Trump and the Senate.

"Kethledge would be very hard to oppose,” said Lat. “He went to Michigan for law school — a public university, not Harvard or Yale, but still a brand-name university. He has long experience on the bench, and he's a very likable guy with a super-high EQ — not always the case with federal judges."

Kethledge is also a hunter, fisherman and outdoorsman with a Midwestern background that would be hard for Democrats in the Senate like Jon Tester of Montana or Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota — in addition to Trump — to oppose. He also has less of a track record in his writings, which would give the Senate fewer words to poke holes in if he ever reaches the nomination process.

For many following the process, he is seen as the dark horse.

For the president, personal chemistry will also play a role. A source familiar with the interviews Trump conducted last week with candidates said the president “loved” Kethledge and hit it off with him.