As you certainly know by now, President Trump is announcing his Supreme Court nominee tonight at 9 pm. We’re going to cover this as breaking news and do frequent updates starting a little before 9, going through the actual announcement, followed by the first waves of outrage and ecstasy (if there is any) over the pick.

Just to review, there have really been four names mentioned as in the running over the past few days. It seems two of those individuals, Brett Kavanaugh and Thomas Hardiman, are both in DC at the moment. As Allahpundit noted here, Amy Coney Barrett is apparently still home in Indiana, so it looks like she’s out of the running. As for Raymond Kethledge, I’m not sure where he is but there are rumors circulating that he’s definitely not the pick:

Hearing from Republicans close to White House and process that Kethledge got a call saying he is not the choice for SCOTUS.

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 9, 2018

So that’s where things stand at the moment but of course, there is lots of conflicting information and the Trump administration is almost certainly trying to mislead people to preserve the surprise as long as possible. The White House just put out this anticipatory video showing the president’s view of the walk to the podium:

9 p.m. ET pic.twitter.com/HJqhi11r4p

— The White House 45 Archived (@WhiteHouse45) July 10, 2018

Here’s the Fox News feed of the announcement.

Update: Judge Brett Kavanaugh is the pick. Check out Allahpundit’s post about Kavanaugh here. Before we get to some of the transcripts and reactions, let me just point out that CNN Chris Cillizza, who said Amy Coney Barrett was the likely pick because she looked the part, was wrong. Having said that, the oppo is already rolling out against Kavanaugh:

Kavanaugh has not yet finished speaking and @WeDemandJustice is already up with an ad against him https://t.co/tpeDufpYZW

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) July 10, 2018

Update: Reporters covering the announcement were walked past a painting of Hillary Clinton. Troll level: EPIC.

In a troll of deeply epic proportions White House staff just walked all reporters & journalists covering the SCOTUS pick by the dumpster & a portrait of Hillary Clinton. When I asked @hogangidley45 if that was on purpose he said “absoloutely.” pic.twitter.com/5g30dGjXu1

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) July 10, 2018

Update: Over at MSNBC, Rachel Maddow is already speculating that Kavanaugh might be Trump’s pick because he has previously opposed indicting a sitting president. The son of late Justice Scalia made a point about this issue on Twitter earlier today:

If Kavanaugh is the nominee, the fever-swamp theory that Trump picked him because he'd protect the president from indictment will gain traction. It's nonsense, and here's why. /1 https://t.co/DMBlrCS422

— Christopher J. Scalia (@cjscalia) July 9, 2018

The theory implies that Kavanaugh said that *the courts* should protect a president from such situations. But in fact, it's clear that Kavanaugh says that only *Congress* has the authority to do so. See the excerpts below. /2 pic.twitter.com/KEMzfhKUY1

— Christopher J. Scalia (@cjscalia) July 9, 2018

But Kavanaugh and others recognize judicial limits imposed by the separation of powers. He may think the current state of legal affairs is bad, but changing it is up to Congress, not SCOTUS. [and…scene]

— Christopher J. Scalia (@cjscalia) July 9, 2018

Update: Here’s cocaine Mitch praising Kavanaugh:

Judge Kavanaugh has won the respect of his peers in the legal community and demonstrates a firm understanding of the role of a judge in our republic. I look fwd to meeting w/ him and to the Senate’s thorough consideration of his nomination. My statement: https://t.co/rv1QDCdNyZ

— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) July 10, 2018

Update: Of course, the opposition is all about protecting Roe v. Wade:

https://twitter.com/ezraklein/status/1016490056637386753

Don’t be fooled by folks who say Kavanaugh said he would respect Roe v Wade as binding precedent during his last confirmation. He said he would respect Supreme Court precedent as a CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE

That’s very different than being a Supreme Court Justice pic.twitter.com/JiCGhqBwVV

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) July 10, 2018

Hillary’s former spox Brian Fallon:

https://t.co/MSRb2nHHDc

— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) July 10, 2018

Update: George W. Bush puts out a statement of support.

President George W Bush applauds selection of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, his former staff secretary. pic.twitter.com/zGTFi25Gzj

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 10, 2018

Meanwhile, billionaire Democratic donor Tom Steyer says “We can stop this.”

Trump has made it clear with this #ScotusPick that he wants control over who can vote, marry, practice their religion, access health care, carry assault weapons, and make a living wage. Tell your senators to vote NO on Kavanaugh. We can stop this. https://t.co/Top4tHNzAG

— Tom Steyer (@TomSteyer) July 10, 2018

Planned Parenthood:

BREAKING: Brett Kavanaugh is Trump’s #SCOTUSpick. It’s time to get LOUD to #SaveSCOTUS: https://t.co/KIDZgWGQAh pic.twitter.com/NJ0ajbFY0G

— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) July 10, 2018

Update: After Maddow talked about Kavanaugh’s objection to indicting a president for 20+ minutes, Lawrence O’Donnell is now opening his show with the same point. I’m going to wrap this up shortly but there’s currently a protest outside the Supreme Court. Here’s Bernie Sanders whipping up the crowd:

.@SenSanders: "Are you ready for a fight?!? Are you ready to defend Roe v. Wade?"

Full video here: https://t.co/AwPM3nMHfy #SCOTUS pic.twitter.com/y3QbniuZl6

— CSPAN (@cspan) July 10, 2018

We’ll have a lot more on all of this tomorrow.