Donald Trump Releases List of 11 Hypothetical Supreme Court Justices

Hypothetical President Donald Trump on Wednesday released a list of hypothetical nominees to build a new hypothetical U.S. Supreme Court should he win a hypothetical matchup with hypothetical Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Not that he's getting ahead of himself.

Trump's list, of course, may end up being nothing more than an exercise in placating the conservative wing of the Republican party. He evidently determined, though, that coming up with a list was necessary to prove that he, who ran as not one of them, is, indeed, one of them.

The list, overall, is to the right of conservative.

It includes justices largely aligned with Trump's anti-Obamacare, anti-abortion and pro-Twitter views. The group includes men who don't seem to think much of women's contraception or the consequences of that. One of them called the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision "a constitutional right to murder an unborn child.”

Here is the list, according to the Associated Press:

• Steven Colloton of Iowa — Colloton, a U.S. Circuit Court Judge certainly shares Trump’s disdain for the Affordable Care Act. He’s ruled that Obamacare needs to do more to accommodate religious groups that don’t want to provide contraceptive to their female employees.
• Allison Eid of Colorado — While she was appointed by a Democratic governor, Eid has leaned right as a justice on the Colorado state Supreme Court. She was once the lone dissenting voice on a ruling to freeze property taxes (instead of lowering them) to keep schools funded.
• Raymond Gruender of Missouri — As a U.S. Circuit Court Judge, Gruender led a ruling that female employees do not have the right to insurance coverage for birth control, a decision that has been cited in the ongoing fight for contraceptives under Obamacare.
• Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania — Hardiman, a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals, once held that a jail’s policy of strip searching arrestees (no matter the offense) does not violate the Fourth Amendment.
• Raymond Kethledge of Michigan — It took almost two years to confirm Kethledge after being nominated to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals. Kethledge was originally nominated June 26 by George W. Bush, but the nomination lapsed when Congress adjourned its session. When he was nominated in March of 2007, two Michigan senators blocked his confirmation until June 24, 2008.
• Joan Larsen of Michigan — Larsen was appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court in October of 2015 by Gov. Rick Snyder. She was once a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who held the vacant seat in the Supreme Court before his death.
• Thomas Lee of Utah — As a member of Utah’s Supreme Court, Lee has largely remained out of the spotlight. He offered a concurring opinion on a wrongful death case that an unborn fetus is a “minor child.”
• William Pryor of Alabama —Trump has already teased a nomination for Pryor, the U.S. Circuit Judge best known for calling the Roe v. Wade decision “a constitutional right to murder an unborn child.”
• David Stras of Minnesota — Stras, an associate justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court, once clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Before his appointment to the Minnesota Supreme Court, Stras was a faculty member at the University of Minnesota Law School.
• Diane Sykes of Wisconsin — Trump has also name-dropped Sykes as a potential nominee. As a federal appeals judge, she was part of a ruling that the state of Indiana could not fully defund Planned Parenthood.
• Don Willett of Texas — Like Trump, Willett is a prolific Tweeter. The former George W. Bush staffer and current Justice on the Supreme Court of Texas has even used the 140-character platform to poke fun at Trump during this election.

President Obama in March nominated Merrick Garland, a centrist whose selection was seen as an attempt at compromise with the Republican-controlled congress, to replace the late Antonin Scalia.

While Garland has met with several members of the Senate — including some Republicans — a formal hearing and confirmation vote still seems unlikely. GOP leaders have voiced their opposition to confirming a new justice until the presidential race is over. Scalia's replacement could ideologically tilt the court, which is currently split 4-4 down party lines.

Brendan Krisel contributed to this report.