Pittsburgh-Based Judge Reportedly A Top Choice To Succeed Justice Kennedy
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Monday night, America will know who President Trump is nominating to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Pittsburgh-based Judge Thomas Hardiman is reportedly a top choice again. He was the number two pick when the president nominated Neil Gorsuch to fill Justice Antonin Scalia's seat in 2017.
"Salt of the earth" is how people describe Third Circuit Judge Thomas Hardiman.
"And he's really that way. It's not a pose," said Bruce Ledewitz, a constitutional law professor at Duquesne University School of Law.
Hardiman, 53, is also a professor at Duquesne University School of Law.
"Our students love him. Judge Hardiman teaches a course on advanced constitutional law and kids on the left take it, students on the right take it, and all the students think he's great," said Ledewitz.
We asked Ledewitz what Judge Hardiman's jurisprudence may look like on the high court.
"Judge Hardiman is not doctrinaire. He's a very reasonable person. He is very conservative. All of his decisions up to this point on the Court have been on the conservative side, but he doesn't have a method," said Ledewitz.
According to Ledewitz, because Hardiman's position on abortion and same sex marriage is unclear, it makes him different and more likely to be confirmed by red-state Senate democrats.
"They will all say in their confirmation hearings that they have not decided yet about overruling Roe or overruling same-sex marriage, but that will probably not be true of most of the people the president is considering. But it would be true of Judge Hardiman," said Ledewitz.
Born in Massachusetts, the judge was the first in his family to go to college and drove a cab as he worked his way through school.
"I think we would be well-served. He is a person who tries to do justice. By his own lights, and I don't agree with him most of the time. He will think things through on the court and try to do justice on the Court. He's a real mensch," said Ledewitz.
Judge Hardiman lives in Fox Chapel, has three children and is married to Lori Zappala, who is part of a well-known democratic family. Ledewitz believes the judge's ability to maintain good relationships with key democratic figures says a lot about the kind of person he is and Justice he would be.
"A person who has ties to both sides of the aisle can still, in this polarized atmosphere, get ahead. And that would be a nice lesson for young people today," said Ledewitz.