Trump unveils list of his top picks for Supreme Court

WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, released Wednesday a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices he plans to vet to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia if he's elected to the White House.

The list of conservative federal and state judges includes Steven Colloton, of Iowa, Allison Eid, of Colorado and Raymond Gruender, of Missouri.

Also on the list are: Thomas Hardiman, of Pennsylvania, Raymond Kethledge, of Michigan, Joan Larsen, of Michigan, Thomas Lee, of Utah, William Pryor, of Alabama, David Stras, of Minnesota, Diane Sykes, of Wisconsin, and Don Willett, of Texas. Trump had previously named Pryor and Sykes as examples of kind of justices he would choose.

The news comes as Trump is working to bring together a fractured Republican Party and earn the trust of still-skeptical establishment Republicans who question his electability in the general election, as well as conservatives in his party still wary of his commitment to their cause.

In a statement, Trump said the list "is representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value" and said, as president, he would use it "as a guide to nominate our next United States Supreme Court Justices."

His campaign stressed the list was compiled "first and foremost, based on constitutional principles, with input from highly respected conservatives and Republican Party leadership."

Larsen, who serves on the Michigan Supreme Court and is a former law clerk to Scalia, delivered one of the tributes to the late justice at his memorial service in March. She served in the Justice Department office that produced the legal justifications for the enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, which critics have called torture.

Willett, a justice on the Texas Supreme Court, is perhaps best known for his heavy use of social media. His Twitter handle, justicewillett, has more than 35,000 followers.

Pryor was initially given a recess appointment to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President George W. Bush. Senate Democrats had tried to block Pryor's appointments over his strong criticism of the Roe v. Wade decision that established a woman's right to an abortion.

Apart from Sykes, who is 58, the others all are younger than 55, and David Stras is just 41. The eight men and three women on the list are all white.