President Donald Trump will announce his nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement in primetime on Monday, 9 p.m. ET.
He started with a list of 25 potential nominees, but has since narrowed it down to four finalists: Brett Kavanaugh, Raymond Kethledge, Thomas Hardiman, and Amy Coney Barrett.
All four nominees are current federal appeals court judges and are all under the age of 55, meaning they would have the opportunity to shape the nation's highest court for decades to come.
Here's what you need to know about the backgrounds and legal careers of the final four:
Brett Kavanaugh
Age: 53
Alma maters: BA Yale University '87, JD Yale Law School '90
Clerked for: Judge Walter Stapleton of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Judge Alex Kosinski of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy of the US Supreme Court
Past positions:
• Associate Counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, the special prosecutor who investigated former President Bill Clinton's extra-marital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Kavanaugh helped draft the Starr report urging Clinton's impeachment, and led the investigation into the suicide of Clinton aide Vince Foster
• Partner at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis in Washington, DC
• Senior associate counsel, associate counsel, assistant to the president, and staff secretary to former President George W. Bush
Current court: US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 2006
Sources: DC Court of Appeals, Los Angeles Times
Amy Coney Barrett
Age: 46
Alma maters: BA Rhodes College '94, JD University of Notre Dame Law School '97
Clerked for: Judge Laurence Silberman of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the US Supreme Court
Past positions:
• Associate at law firm Miller, Cassidy, Larocca, and Lewin in Washington, DC
• Professor at Notre Dame Law School, where she teaches constitutional law, federal courts, and statutory interpretation
Current court: United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit since 2017
Sources: Federal Judicial Center, Chicago Sun Times, Los Angeles Times
Raymond Kethledge
Age: 51
Alma mater: BA University of Michigan '89, JD University of Michigan Law School '93
Clerked for: Judge Ralph B. Guy of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy of the US Supreme Court
Past positions:
• Judiciary Counsel to former Sen. Spencer Abraham of Michigan
• Partner at law firm Honigman, Miller, Schwartz, and Cohn
• In-house counsel at Ford Motor Company
• Co-founder of boutique law firm Bush, Seyfreth, and Paige in Troy, Michigan
• Adjunct professor at University of Michigan law school
Current court: US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit since 2008
Sources: Federal Judicial Center, SCOTUSBlog, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post
See the rest of the story at INSIDER
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