Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
Republican Senate hopeful Ron DeSantis is applauding Donald Trump for his potential Supreme Court picks.
On Wednesday, Trump released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court nominees to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.
Scalia died in February, creating a vacancy on the Supreme Court. President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy, but Republicans have said they will not fill the seat before the election.
Trump’s list of potential nominees is made up of eight men and three women, all of whom are judges. Six sit on federal appeals courts and five are state appellate judges.
“Donald Trump has released a list of outstanding jurists who all understand the proper role of the courts and have demonstrated a commitment to upholding the Constitution,” said DeSantis in a statement Thursday. “One of the most significant duties of a U.S. Senator is to confirm nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court and these are of the types of nominees that I hope to see nominated to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia and to fill any additional vacancies.”
DeSantis is one of five Republicans vying to replace Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate. He’ll face Rep. David Jolly, Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, Carlos Beruff and Todd Wilcox in the Aug. 30 Republican primary.
__The Associated Press contributed to this report.
