Potential candidates for Supreme Court under a second Donald Trump term

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump made history in 2016 when, as a presidential candidate, he issued an initial list of 11 people he would use as a "guide" for potential Supreme Court nominees, to allay concerns he would not choose conservative judges. He added to those lists while president, which included his three high court candidates: Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

He was the first major presidential candidate to telegraph his political strategy so clearly on a tea-leaves topic that is fraught with uncertainty.

Sources close to the presumptive GOP nominee say he again plans to release a similar list in coming weeks or months. As he did eight years ago, Trump will be emphatic, saying he would only choose from the new slates of candidates if there is a Supreme Court vacancy.

As he did during his first election campaign and as president, Trump has been consulting with conservative legal voices, including those from the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation. He has also spoken with GOP members of Congress to seek their input, say sources close to the former president.

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The level of serious consideration for any individual candidate remains a highly flexible, amorphous standard, given Trump's reputation for shifting political views and strategies.

Trump's large number of federal judicial appointments (245) in his first term would give him a deep bench of candidates to possibly serve on the Supreme Court, including a number who clerked for Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh as well as the late Antonin Scalia.

Sources say that professional pedigree would be an important factor to Trump, since all