Sykes on Trump’s US Supreme Court justice short list (UPDATE)

By: Associated Press//May 18, 2016//

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Federal Judge Diane Sykes (Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has included Wisconsin’s Diane Sykes on his list of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees.

The 58-year-old Sykes served as a Milwaukee County judge from 1992 to 1999, when Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson appointed her to the state Supreme Court. President George W. Bush nominated her to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2003. The Senate confirmed her appointment in 2004.

Sykes described herself as an “originalist-textualist” to the Wisconsin Bar Association in 2014. In 1993 she sentenced two protesters to 60 days in jail for blocking an abortion clinic doorway, telling them their motivations were pure but their activities were illegal.

Sykes was married to conservative radio talk show host Charlie Sykes; the couple divorced in 1993.

Trump released the list Wednesday.

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