<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> With the advice and consent of the United States Senate, the President of the United States appoints the members of the Supreme Court of the United States, which is the highest court of the federal judiciary of the United States . Following his victory in the 2016 presidential election, Republican Donald Trump took office as president on January 20, 2017, and faced an immediate vacancy on the Supreme Court due to the February 2016 death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia . During the 2016 campaign, Trump had released two lists of potential nominees to the Supreme Court . After taking office, he nominated Neil Gorsuch to succeed Scalia, and Gorsuch was confirmed in April 2017 . In November 2017, five more names were added to the previous lists of potential nominees . In June 2018, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, creating a second vacancy on the Supreme Court . In early July 2018, Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh as his replacement . </P> <P> President Trump began his term in January 2017 with a vacancy to be filled as a result of the February 2016 death of Justice Antonin Scalia . As three of the Court's justices at the time--Ruth Bader Ginsburg (born 1933), Anthony Kennedy (born 1936) and Stephen Breyer (born 1938)--were aged 78 or older, speculation arose that additional vacancies could occur during Trump's four - year presidential term . Because Ginsburg and Breyer were part of the liberal wing of the Court and Kennedy was a swing vote who often aligned with them on social issues, many top political analysts saw Trump's term as a chance for Republicans to reshape the court significantly towards a more conservative vision of the law . On June 27, 2018, this became a real possibility when Justice Kennedy officially announced his retirement . </P>

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