President Trump plans to release a shortlist of his potential picks for Supreme Court justices "in the coming days," White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters on Tuesday.
Why it matters: Trump's decision to release a similar list in May of 2016 likely helped shore up his support among conservatives, for whom confirming judges to the Supreme Court and federal judiciary has been a longtime priority.
What they're saying: "We've been working on the SCOTUS picks, I don't know that there's been a delay as much as there has been a whole lot of other priorities that we've been working on," Meadows said.
- "I'm optimistic that you'll see those SCOTUS picks in coming days. We've been working very closely, the president has, with the White House general counsel, getting input from a number of others," he added.
- "I'm excited about the list, and the president will be signing off on that in the coming days."
The backdrop: Discussions about the list ramped up after Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump's first Supreme Court nominee, delivered the majority decision prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity, Axios' Alayna Treene reported in June.
Go deeper: Behind Trump's tweet about his forthcoming SCOTUS list
