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Hardiman ‘at peace’ with Trump decision

Judge visited Altoona to talk with friend after president chose Gorsuch as pick for Supreme Court

On Tuesday, a meeting took place in Altoona that might be analogous to a hypothetical get-together the day after the Super Bowl, when the losing quarterback checks in with his old college coach.

The meeting was reported by the New York Times on Wednesday: Thomas Hardiman, a judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals who practices in Pittsburgh, visited the home of Altoona native D. Brooks Smith, chief judge of the Third Circuit.

Earlier that day, Hardiman learned that Neil Gorsuch, not he, was President Donald Trump’s choice for the open seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I tended to think of it as a meeting of two friends,” Smith said Thursday.

One of those friends, Smith, is 14 years older and more experienced. The other, Hardiman, 51, just missed being named to a post that represents the highest level of their profession — and could still reach that level at some future date.

“If he was disappointed, he didn’t let on,” Smith said. “He was at peace with what happened.”

They “downloaded about the whole process,” and the philosophical Hardiman, who’d been both exhilarated and humbled, praised Gorsuch, Smith said.

Still, it had been a distraction, beginning with Hardiman’s being named as one of more than a dozen potential candidates during Trump’s campaign, then being named to a short list, then a finalist, according to Smith.

According to the Times, the White House encouraged Hardiman to head toward Washington even after the decision had been made to maintain suspense and help ensure a successful nomination announcement.

Hardiman, whose house was under media surveillance, got as far as Bedford, where he filled up his gas tank as a CNN crew observed — and where he called Smith, asking whether he could come talk with the chief judge.

Ironically, Smith at the time was in Pittsburgh.

“I’ll rush home and sit down with you,” Smith told Hardiman.

He did, arriving about 2 p.m., after Hardiman whiled away time by driving around.

“I had him park in my garage,” Smith said. “Hiding him from you guys.”

The Times reported that Hardiman filled his gas tank in Altoona, then “disappeared.”

Smith suggested that Hardiman take time off to recover.

“I’ll take a weekend,” Hardiman said, according to Smith. “But what I need is to get back to my work.”

It’s a measure of the high regard in which his 3rd Circuit colleagues hold Hardiman and of the “collegiality” of the group — with members appointed by presidents of both parties — that all praised him on learning he wasn’t leaving them, Smith said.

Asked what it was like to be talking to a man who made it so close to elite judicial status, Smith said, “I’m too old to be impressed by position anymore.”

Smith already counts a few justices of the Supreme Court as friends, Samuel Alito in particular.

“I’m going to have lunch with him next week,” Smith said.

The late Justice Antonin Scalia wasn’t a social friend, but they were well-acquainted, having taught together in Italy.

Smith is also one of 12 chief Circuit Court judges who make up the Judicial Conference of the U.S., chaired by Chief Justice John Roberts, he said.

Hardiman is earnest and hard-working and would have been “a superb addition to the Supreme Court,” Smith said.

As for Smith himself?

“I’m too old,” he said. “I’m not in the hunt.”

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.

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