Trump will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Babe Ruth, Elvis Presley, and Sen. Orrin Hatch

Wilfredo Lee, File/AP

• President Donald Trump announced his first recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom Saturday, the nation's highest honor for a civilian.
• The seven recipients will include American pop culture figures Elvis Presley and Babe Ruth.
• Political recipients include the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and retiring Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch.

President Donald Trump has announced his first recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and they include the wife of a major Republican Party donor, the longest-serving Republican senator in US history, Elvis Presley and Babe Ruth.

Trump will also posthumously recognize the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia for nearly three decades on the Court as a "champion of the Constitution," according to a White House statement.

Presley was chosen for his prolific music career in addition to his two years of service in the Army, the White House said.

Medals are also going to Miriam Adelson, a doctor and the wife of casino magnate and Republican donor Sheldon Adelson; Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, who is retiring after more than 41 years in the US Senate; former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach and Alan Page, who began a legal career after leaving the NFL.

Hatch, who has served in the Senate since 1977, is being honored for sponsoring the most bills of any living Congress member and leading a career in which he "championed religious liberty, fought against communism, and stood on the side of freedom around the world."

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest honor for a civilian. The ceremony will take place on November 16.

The last Medal of Honor ceremony was in January 2017 when former President Barack Obama awarded former Vice President Joe Biden. Obama previously named recipients including Bruce Springsteen, Sandra Day O'Connor, Harvey Milk, Stephen Hawking, Michael Jordan, and Bill and Melinda Gates.

Over the course of his two terms, Obama honored over 100 individuals, more than any other president.

The White House wrote in a statement that the medal would be "awarded by the President to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."