Possible Supreme Court nominees during a second term of President Trump.

In 2016, Donald Trump, as a presidential candidate, created a list of 11 individuals to serve as a guide for his potential Supreme Court nominees, in an effort to assuage fears he would not select conservative judges. He later expanded this list while in office, which included his three Supreme Court appointees: Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

He was the first major presidential candidate to reveal his political strategy so openly on a topic that is full of ambiguity.

Trump plans to release a list of potential Supreme Court nominees in the coming weeks or months, just as he did eight years ago. Sources close to him say he will be emphatic in stating that he would only choose from the new slates of candidates if there is a Supreme Court vacancy.

Trump has consistently sought advice from conservative legal experts, such as those from the Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation, as well as GOP members of Congress, during both his first election campaign and his presidency, according to sources close to him.

Trump's reputation for shifting political views and strategies makes it difficult to determine the level of serious consideration given to any individual candidate.

Trump's extensive number of federal judicial appointments (245) during his first term would provide him with a substantial pool of potential candidates to serve on the Supreme Court, including those who previously clerked for Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and the late Antonin Scalia.

According to sources, Trump values a professional pedigree, as all three of his high court picks have clerked at the same prestigious institution (Gorsuch and Kavanaugh for Justice Anthony Kennedy, and Barrett for Scalia).

An unofficial list of potential Supreme Court candidates by Trump was compiled from various sources, including officials within his inner circle and Republican political and legal circles.

The public list that his team is still compiling is subject to change, but these are some of the names being considered.

Judge Amul Thapar presides over the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, located in Covington, Kentucky.

Thapar, a U.S. attorney born in 1969, was the first federal district court judge of South Asian descent whose family emigrated from India. Trump interviewed him personally in 2017 for the Scalia vacancy while still a district judge, then became the president's second judicial pick when elevated to the appeals court. He was later interviewed by the president for the 2018 high court seat filled by Kavanaugh. Thapar would have the enthusiastic support of his home state senator, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Judge James Ho, 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Dallas

In 2018, Ho, a former Justice Thomas law clerk and Texas solicitor general, was appointed to the federal bench. Born in Taiwan, his parents immigrated to California when he was a child. If nominated, he would be the first Asian-American justice. In October remarks at the Heritage Foundation, Ho urged his conservative bench colleagues to "get comfortable" with criticism over their rulings, speaking out against "fair-weather originalism" over that judicial philosophy.

Judge Gregory Katsas, D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Washington

In 1964, he was born. Add him to the list of former Trump White House deputy counsel who could be on the Supreme Court short list. He was appointed to the high-profile appeals court in 2017, where Thomas, Scalia, Kavanaugh, and Chief Justice John Roberts all once served. However, his age may be a potential drawback if the president is seeking someone younger who would presumably carve a longer legacy on the bench.

Judge Neomi Rao, D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Washington

Rao, born in 1973, grew up in Detroit as the daughter of Indian immigrant physicians. Like her colleague Katsas, she was a Justice Thomas law clerk. After working as a private attorney and law professor, Rao was nominated by Trump to the federal appeals court seat held by now-Justice Kavanaugh.

Judge Barbara Lagoa, 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Miami

In 1967, she was born. She was the first Hispanic woman and the first Cuban-American woman to serve on the Florida Supreme Court. She was a finalist for the 2020 Supreme Court vacancy that was ultimately filled by Justice Barrett.

Kate Comerford Todd, former deputy White House counsel

She was born in 1975 and was a former Justice Thomas law clerk. She was seriously considered for the 2020 high court vacancy that went to Justice Barrett. At the time, she was a key Trump White House adviser on judicial selection, among other areas. Currently a private attorney, she could play another prominent role in a Trump administration. However, her lack of judicial experience may be a drawback. She is described as smart, principled, with a strong "originalist" view of the Constitution.

Judge Lawrence Van Dyke presides over the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Reno, Nevada.

Van Dyke, born in 1972, is a former Nevada and Montana solicitor general who worked for his family's Montana construction business while in college. As a private attorney, he did pro bono work for both the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom and the progressive ACLU. His 2019 Senate confirmation to the appeals court was contentious, with the nominee tearfully denying claims he was and would be unfair as a judge to the LGBTQ+ community.

Judge Britt Grant, 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Atlanta

She was born in 1978 and served as a former justice on the Georgia Supreme Court. Prior to her state appointment in 2017, she worked as the Georgia solicitor general and a private attorney. She also served as a law clerk to then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the D.C. Circuit. He swore her in to her current position in August 2018 during his own high court confirmation.

Judge Kyle Duncan, a member of the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, is based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Duncan, a Louisiana native born in 1972, worked in the attorney general's office and later served as general counsel for the conservative Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. As a private attorney, he represented 15 states before the Supreme Court that had prohibited same-sex marriage. The high court ultimately ruled such laws unconstitutional. During his Senate confirmation hearings for an appellate court seat in 2018, Duncan's views on LGBTQ+ rights were a major source of contention.

Judge Andrew Oldham, 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Austin, Texas

Before becoming a federal judge, he served as general counsel to Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and was once a law clerk to Justice Alito.

Judge Kevin Newsom, 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Birmingham, Alabama

Before becoming a federal judge, Newsom served as Alabama's solicitor general and was once a law clerk for former Justice David Souter.

Joan Larsen, a judge on the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

In 1968, she was born. She was a former law clerk to Justice Scalia and delivered a tribute at his memorial service in March 2016. She served in the Justice Department office that produced the legal justifications for enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, which critics have called torture. Prior to becoming a federal appellate judge in 2017, she was on the Michigan Supreme Court. She was a finalist for the high court in 2018 and 2020. Trump teased to Planet Chronicle four years ago that he was considering "a great one from Michigan" and later said she was "very talented." However, the seat ultimately went to Justice Barrett.

Larsen, a college student at the time, volunteered for Democrat Joe Biden's 1988 presidential campaign, performing tasks such as stuffing envelopes and making phone calls. However, her current political leanings are more conservative.

Judge David Stras, 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Minneapolis

Stras, who was born in 1974, served on the Minnesota Supreme Court and is believed to be the first Jewish member of the state's high court. He clerked for Justice Thomas and once headed the Institute for Law and Justice, a well-respected academic think tank on public policy and judicial politics. In 2017, he was nominated to sit on the appeals court.

Kristen Waggoner, Alliance Defending Freedom CEO, president and general counsel

A prominent conservative legal advocate, born in 1972, has won 15 cases before the Supreme Court, including the Masterpiece Cakeshop litigation, which upheld the right of private business owners to refuse their artistic services that might violate their "sincerely-held" religious beliefs, including opposing same-sex marriage. Waggoner is a Washington state native.

Judge Allison Jones Rushing, 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Asheville, North Carolina, is a judge.

She, too, was a law clerk for then-Judge Gorsuch and later Justice Thomas, and was also considered for the 2020 high court vacancy.

Judge Patrick Wyrick, U.S. District Court for Western Oklahoma, Oklahoma City

In 2019, the Atoka, Oklahoma, native who was born in 1981 served on the state's highest court and as the state's solicitor general prior to his appointment.

Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Mike Lee, R-Utah

Typically, a few members of Congress are mentioned on these lists as a political courtesy, especially to senators who would vote on any nomination. Two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are frequently mentioned: Cotton, an outspoken Trump supporter and a vocal advocate for gun rights and immigration reform, and Lee, who has the best credentials of any lawmaker to be a justice, having been a former appellate and constitutional lawyer in Utah and Washington, and having clerked for Alito on both the federal appeals court and later the Supreme Court. The relative youth of both senators (Cotton is 47 and Lee is 52) would ensure either could serve many years on the high court and bring a unique, politically charged dynamic to it.