Senior Sen. Orrin Hatch, as a long-time member of the Judiciary Committee, will of course be consulted before the White House announces its choice to fill the seat of retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. And he will be a key player in the subsequent confirmation hearings.
Junior Sen. Mike Lee is not only a member of that same committee, but he is on the short list the president has been waving since before he was elected as suitable candidates for the high court. Lee has been in touch with the White House on the matter, though he has, judiciously, declined to disclose whether it is in his role as a candidate or as a senator.