In the coming days and weeks, much will be written about the political and electoral implications of Ohio senator J. D. Vance’s selection as the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Should Donald Trump be elected president, one area in which a Vice President Vance seems very likely to have an outsized impact is in the administration’s selection of a nominee to fill a U.S. Supreme Court vacancy (of which, under a second Trump term, there would almost certainly be at least one).
Trump, unlike in 2016 and 2020, has not yet released a list of jurists whom he would consider appointing to the high court. While his decision to hold off on releasing a formal list has caused consternation among some conservatives, there are only about a dozen contenders who would have a realistic chance of securing a nomination. Fox News published a concise summary of most of the potential nominees last month (while, it should be noted, relaying comments from sources close to Trump that a judges list would be forthcoming). Of the excellent Supreme Court candidates mentioned in the Fox report, Vance’s vice-presidential nomination makes his connections to one immediately stand out: Judge Amul Thapar of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Thapar, who served as a federal district judge in the Eastern District of Kentucky for nine years before Trump elevated him to the appeals court in 2017, also happens to be the former boss of Vance’s wife. Usha Chilukuri Vance, until recently a litigator at Munger, Tolles, & Olson, worked for one year as a law clerk to Thapar when he sat on the trial court. She went on to complete clerkships for then–D.C. circuit judge Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts, two incredibly prestigious professional accomplishments that her clerkship with Thapar no doubt assisted her in obtaining. The Vance family now lives in Cincinnati — a short drive across the Ohio River from Thapar’s chambers in Covington, Ky.
All that is to say there are long-standing ties between Vance and Thapar — ties that will undoubtedly have an outsized role in the event of a Supreme Court vacancy under a second Trump presidency. Trump, for his part, does not have much of a background in the federal courts or judicial nominations; large portions of the vetting process for Supreme Court justices and lower-court judges in Trump’s first term were handled by influential figures in the White House such as former White House counsel Don McGahn.
While Thapar was considered for Supreme Court vacancies during Trump’s first term, his name never made it past the short list. Come 2025, things could be quite different. Thapar’s record on the Sixth Circuit is impeccable, and his judicial opinions have time and time again demonstrated his fidelity to principled constitutionalism and fair-minded judging. Should a Vice President Vance result in Thapar’s selection for a potential Supreme Court vacancy, the country would stand to benefit immensely.