Trump mulls Supreme Court choice from 2 or 3 candidates

© The Associated Press

FILE -In this April 26, 2004, file photo, Brett Kavanaugh appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. Kavanaugh is on President Donald Trump's list of potential Supreme Court Justice candidates to fill the spot vacated by retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook, File)

By CATHERINE LUCEY, ZEKE MILLER and KEN THOMAS, AP
BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J.

President Donald Trump is weighing his choice on a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy from the seclusion of his golf club in New Jersey. And he is consulting with the vice president and others as he zeroes in on a nominee.

Ahead of a Monday night announcement from the East Room in the White House, the president told reporters he was focused on four people and "of the four people I have it down to three or two." He was having dinner Friday night with Vice President Mike Pence, who has also been meeting with the finalists.

The president's top contenders include federal appeals court judges Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Raymond Kethledge, with federal appeals court judge Thomas Hardiman still considered in the mix.