President Donald Trump on Monday afternoon met with Judge Amy Coney Barrett at the White House, Breitbart News can confirm.
Barrett, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, continues to be a front-runner on Trump’s shortlist for the Supreme Court.
Trump previously met with Barrett as he prepared to replace Justice Antonin Scalia but ended up selecting Brett Kavanaugh instead.
In 2019, Axios reported that Trump was “saving” Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on Friday.
When reporters asked Trump about Barrett on Saturday as he left the White House, Trump replied only, “She’s very highly respected. I can say that.”
Barrett clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia over 20 years ago and has the legal philosophy of a textual originalist similar to that of Scalia.
At age 48, Barrett is a Roman Catholic and the mother of seven children, including two adopted children from Haiti.
During her confirmation hearing for the Seventh Circuit, Sen. Dianne Feinstein questioned her Catholicism ,noting that “the dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s a concern,” which rallied religious conservatives to her defense.
Trump said Monday that he would continue meeting with candidates this week and likely will announce a selection on Saturday.
The president told reporters on Monday that he “may” meet with Judge Barbara Lagoa in Miami during a campaign trip, a possible candidate that has also received a lot of recommendations.
“She’s got a lot of support. I’m getting a lot of phone calls from a lot of people. … I don’t know her but I hear she’s outstanding,” Trump said when asked about Lagoa.