They're Back!': Dems, GOP Set to Renew Battle over Supreme Court Vacancy 'We're Looking at All Options': Lindsey Graham Reacts to Possible SCOTUS Pick from Trump Fox News reported last week that the president had been in communication with the judge’s attorneys. “The President is very happy with him, his heart is in the right place,” Spicer said. “We’re happy for him. We’ve gotten great feedback from that.” On the issue of judicial nominations, Spicer on Thursday said: “What the White House wants is that President Trump is going to have an opportunity to appoint a great justice to the Supreme Court and that’s where he’s going to focus his efforts.” The president has spoken out about possible nominees, including a list of 25 potential choices sent to the Heritage Foundation. Watch Spicer’s comments above, and read the full transcript from his press briefing below: PRESS Briefing by Kellyanne Conway, Steve Mnuchin and Sean Spicer in the Brady Briefing Room, July 31, 2016 https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/767028147934169953 I have the absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department. But there is absolutely no need to do it. This is a very important position that does nothing for me. The appointment of Justice Kennedy was a great moment in history. These are people that want to go back to the old days. But it really is an honor to be able to represent our country, and we have somebody that is going to be a great Justice of the Supreme Court. And hopefully at some point in my administration we can have that person, but it’s not necessary to appoint one now. When I decided to go this route, I was going to go this route. It’s going to be Justice Ginsburg, Justice Ginsburg. And there’s some questions that I’m sure would be raised. But at the end of the day, I can still nominate a judge in the mold of Justice Ginsburg, or Justice Kennedy. And I believe in the Constitution. I believe in judges that follow the Constitution. And that’s what’s going to happen. But the idea of doing this for political gain is a very tough one for me to do. If I thought he would be a different Supreme Court justice, than perhaps in the immediate short run I would do it, I would be extremely happy. But I think Justice Kennedy was a great justice, the most admired in history. He was also perhaps the most liberal of all the justices. You can see with what has happened over the past 50 years – particularly over the last eight years with President Obama and his attorney general — you can see with the issues that are going on currently with illegal immigration — you can see why President Obama picked judges that were so liberal. They were appointed for political reasons. They were appointed because he knew the Senate, with the exception of a handful of Republicans, would not confirm those type of candidates. That’s the reason why there was so much criticism towards Justice Kennedy, who was appointed to the Supreme Court. There are a lot of issues that are important for this country. And I want somebody who is going to be loyal to the Constitution and not be a weak person. So, I don’t think that that’s a big problem. I think we have plenty of time to get somebody in the mold of Justice Kennedy or Justice Ginsburg. So, I am very honored to have this opportunity. I am very honored to be President, and it’s a great thing. And for the White House, it’s probably not a great thing. There is a little concern that at some point in time, a seat on the United States Supreme Court could revert back to what it once was. I don’t want to say it that way. But there was a time when a President — a President, not Hillary Clinton — but a President did not appoint a justice to the United States Supreme Court. And now we have an open seat, and the United States Supreme Court has only had eight. If I appoint somebody that is pro-life and really very strongly pro-life, and they are, as the Senate then votes against them, and then we end up losing in the Senate. We end up having to go with somebody else, we’re going to have a problem. So, I think that’s something that I have to consider very carefully, and I have, as you’ve seen. But I think my priority is going to be to get rid of the bad justices. The justices that are not in the mold of what Neil Gorsuch, in my opinion, and in my heart. He’s a great judge. That’s the kind of Justice I want for the United States Supreme Court. No matter what, we’re going to have a great Supreme Court. I believe that. But I’ll see what happens. You’ll see what happens. It was a little bit strange to be able to watch that. Not sure that’s what he really wanted to say, but I will stand by you on that. So now, back to the news. We have a lot of great new judges that will be coming into the United States Supreme Court. And that is something that is going to make America great again. A lot of times you say, well that’s the way it is — it is not going to be like that. And he’s going to have a couple of really outstanding people. One of the top people in America, a lot of people would agree with that, very talented — I call him by the name Tommy, Tommy DiSabato. You know he has got a little Tommy over there. He was down at the convention. He was a big Trump supporter. We’ve gotten tremendous support from a lot of people that voted on the convention. We will be getting a lot more support. There’s no doubt about it. Donald Trump at a Campaign Rally in Roanoke, Virginia, May 2016. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) And all of these great people who are getting up here, and our friends, they are extraordinary people. We have a great judge coming from Alabama — the great state of Alabama. His name is Bill Pryor. He’s a fantastic judge. I think he has so much respect for the judiciary, the courts, he’s incredible. He is the total package. He’s been incredible, even on cases he has a totally different view than me. We have a couple cases together. We do everything with him. And he has been totally independent. I don’t even have to talk to him. He’s so independent. And he actually said, and I really think this is a great thing — he said he hoped we win the Supreme Court at some point in the future. I think we will win. He said he hoped we win. That’s a great statement. We’ll see what happens in terms of that decision. That is tremendous. He will be a fantastic addition to the United States Supreme Court, so we are very happy about that. And there are a lot of great judges coming in. We are very excited about our future with the United States Supreme Court. I have known him and his family for a long time. He is just an incredible person. His wife and his daughter are here with us today, as well. We’re also very proud of Michael Pence, who is now heading the convention and doing an incredible job. We’re also very proud of our vice president. We have a lot of friends in the audience. We have great friends here. Great friends. We have some special friends in the audience. I just want to thank them from the bottom of my heart. I want to thank our great vice president. On Twitter, I am going to work so hard to do the best job that I can in the Middle East, and all over the place. But we will be dealing with all of that in a couple of hours. But I want to make it very clear that we have tremendous business people. We have got people coming in from Saudi Arabia, from Saudi Arabia. A