In Supreme Court nominations, as in other things, Donald Trump is the master of lifting veils and making subtext text. Normally a president facing a Supreme Court vacancy makes a big show of seeking out the Most Qualified Nominee and insisting that the process should be all about résumés rather than mere politics. Meanwhile, beneath that surface everyone understands that a nomination battle can be as political as any election, with sex and race and looks and charisma mattering as much as judicial acumen.
With Trump, though, we are mostly being spared the bluff about how only qualifications matter. Because cultivating serious judges is one of the few things conservatism does well, the president has a host of qualified nominees to choose from, and to his credit he has eschewed the callow or corrupt choices that his critics feared. But his White House is also frank about the fact that the boss's interests extend well beyond the résumé, that he's looking for a certain look, a personal rapport, an easy confirmation. And in narrowing his list (apparently) to a final three, he's given us a contest that resembles a reality television finale or a G.O.P. primary — but I repeat myself.
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