Hawley isn’t the only Missourian to make Trump’s Supreme Court list. Here’s the other
The big Missouri name on President Donald Trump’s list of 20 potential Supreme Court nominees Wednesday was Sen. Josh Hawley, who immediately said he had “no interest in the high court.”
But there was another less prominent Missourian listed, one Trump has already placed on the federal bench: Sarah Pitlyk of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Pitlyk, 42, would be a controversial choice. Her lack of trial experience earned her a “not qualified” rating from the American Bar Association when Trump nominated her last year. She was confirmed by the Senate on 49-44 vote.
A Yale Law graduate, Pitlyk clerked for then-Judge Brett Kavanuagh of the U.S. Court of Appeals, who now sits on the Supreme Court. She also worked for the pro-life law firm Thomas More Society, where she argued that the practice of gestational surrogacy — where an unrelated person carries someone else’s child through in vitro fertilization — was harmful to both mothers and children.
Hawley praised Pitlyk in 2019 following her nomination by Trump, calling her a “superb choice — an accomplished attorney, a formidable intellect, and a proud mom. Can’t wait to see her before the Judiciary Committee.”
