White House counsel Don McGahn will oversee President Trump’s selection of a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, the White House announced Monday.
The move is part of a temporary reshuffle of the West Wing designed to swiftly confirm a new justice on the high court by the fall.
{mosads}White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said McGahn will receive assistance from a group of attorneys who will vet nominees and prepare briefing materials for Trump.
“Teams of attorneys from the White House Counsel’s Office and Department of Justice are working to ensure the president has all the information he needs to choose his nominee,” Sanders said in a statement. “The Department of Justice is fully engaged to support the nomination and confirmation efforts.”
McGahn was reportedly eyeing a departure from the White House but decided to remain on board to navigate the confirmation process.
Deputy press secretary Raj Shah will take a leave of absence from his current role to focus on messaging in support of the pick, which Trump has said he will announce on July 9.
Justin Clark, director of the White House’s Office of Public Liaison, will work with outside conservative groups, who plan to spend millions of dollars to boost Trump’s nominee.
The moves reflect how the confirmation of a new Supreme Court justice has become a top priority for the White House, with the vacancy left by Kennedy giving Trump an opportunity to solidify conservative control of the nation’s highest court.
But Trump’s pick is expected to trigger a fierce nomination battle in the Senate, where the GOP holds a slim majority, because the ideological balance of the court is at stake.
The president has said he wants a nominee who is similar to his first Supreme Court pick, Neil Gorsuch, a staunch conservative justice. Kennedy, 81, has been a swing vote on several key cases.