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Washington • Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is now on GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump's short list of potential Supreme Court picks.
Trump previously named several candidates he would consider to appoint to the high court should he win the White House and there were vacancies on the bench — a list that then included Lee's brother, Thomas Lee, currently Utah Supreme Court associate chief justice.
Trump expanded the list Friday to include the Utah senator as well as other judges from across the country, and said that he would choose only from the 21 people he's put forward.
"This list is definitive and I will choose only from it in picking future justices of the United States Supreme Court," Trump said in a news release. The statement came out just hours before Sen. Ted Cruz, a primary rival of Trump, said he will vote for the nominee.
Mike Lee is among a few top elected Utah leaders who have declined to publicly endorse Trump.
Lee said Friday that he is flattered by his inclusion on the list but happy with his role in the Senate.
"The Supreme Court is very important and I appreciate being considered," Lee said in a statement. "Right now I'm focused on my job in the Senate, where I'm in a good position to defend the Constitution by fighting against government overreach."
President Barack Obama has nominated Merrick Garland, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who died earlier this year. But Senate Republicans have refused for months to hold hearings or a vote on Garland.
Trump has released his list of potential nominees in an effort to reassure conservatives who are concerned about the type of judges he would appoint. In Friday's announcement, Trump touted the presidential power to appoint high-court justices as a major factor in whom Americans put in the White House.
"We have a very clear choice in this election," Trump said. "The freedoms we cherish and the constitutional values and principles our country was founded on are in jeopardy. The responsibility is greater than ever to protect and uphold these freedoms and I will appoint justices, who like Justice Scalia, will protect our liberty with the highest regard for the Constitution."
Lee, who is up for re-election this year, has repeatedly declined to say whom he will vote for in the presidential election. He has criticized Trump for his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country and for his personal attacks on Cruz, R-Texas, Lee's friend and closest Senate ally.
Cruz stunned the political world Friday by reversing his previous stance and saying he would vote for Trump.
Boyd Matheson, Lee's former chief of staff who is now president of the Sutherland Institute, says he doesn't think Trump listing Lee is an effort to woo the senator or his allies as much as it is to convince conservatives generally that he's serious about the Supreme Court.
"I think that is a broader move in terms of conservatives across the country," Matheson said. "It's more of a national play."
Matheson noted that in past elections there have been certain groups that could swing the election — and this time around he believes it's those people who are concerned about the future of the high court. "This election, on both sides, there is a set of Supreme Court voters and Mike Lee being on that list helps with those voters" on the conservative side, Matheson said.
Lee's refusal to endorse the nominee puts him in a relatively small group of elected Utah Republican leaders, including Rep. Mia Love and Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox.
Lee said that both lists he's seen from the Trump campaign are "fantastic."
"While my brother and I might disagree as to which list is better, they're both great," Mike Lee added.