Latest news with #judicialnominees
Reuters
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
US Senate panel advances Trump's first five judicial nominees
June 26 (Reuters) - A Republican-led U.S. Senate panel voted along party lines on Thursday to advance President Donald Trump's first five judicial nominees of his second term, including a former clerk to three members of the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority for a seat on a federal appeals court. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 in favor of sending Whitney Hermandorfer's nomination to the full Senate for it to consider whether to confirm her to a life-tenured position on the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The panel also advanced the nominations of four candidates to serve as federal trial court judges in Missouri's Eastern District over the opposition of Democrats who assailed some of the nominees' records on abortion and LGBTQ rights. They are the first of the 12 judicial nominees the Republican president has announced to date to clear the committee. The votes set the stage for the Senate to confirm them and add to the 234 judicial appointments Trump made in his first term. Those 234 appointments helped shift the ideological balance of the federal judiciary to the right and included three members of the U.S. Supreme Court who helped give the high court its current 6-3 conservative majority. Trump is seeking to add new judges even as he and his administration rail against members of the judiciary for participating in a "judicial coup" by blocking core parts of his immigration and cost-cutting agenda that they have concluded are unlawful. Senator Chuck Grassley, the committee's Republican chair, hailed the five candidates under consideration as "truly excellent, well-qualified nominees." Hermandorfer clerked for conservative Supreme Court justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett, and clerked for Justice Brett Kavanaugh while he was a judge on a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. Today, she heads a strategic litigation unit in Republican Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti's office, where she has defended the state's near-total abortion ban and challenged a rule adopted under former Democratic President Joe Biden barring discrimination against transgender students. Senator Dick Durbin, the committee's top Democrat, spoke out against Hermandorfer, citing her "inexperience, her partisan ideology, and her apparent willingness to support even the most unlawful efforts of the Trump administration." He said not only was her record "extreme" but also short. He noted that Hermandorfer, 37, and two of Trump's Missouri nominees, Missouri Solicitor General Joshua Divine and federal prosecutor Zachary Bluestone, only graduated law school within the last decade. Durbin and other Democrats spoke out sharply against Divine, who Durbin said had taken extreme positions on reproductive rights and ballot access and referred to himself as a "zealot" for anti-abortion causes. Several Democrats noted that Divine, while a college student, wrote an op-ed arguing in favor of prospective voters being required to pass literacy tests, which southern states used during the Jim Crow era to prevent Black people from casting ballots before the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. When Democrats asked Divine about the op-ed, he said he condemned Jim Crow literacy tests and that he wrote the article as a teenager when he was not fully aware of the law surrounding such tests. But Democratic Senator Peter Welch said he had a hard time believing it was a mere college indiscretion. "I was in college," Welch said. "You were in college. And the views that he's expressed then, and I think still adheres to, are, I think, really, really extreme and have no place on the bench." The panel nonetheless voted 12-10 in favor of Divine, Bluestone and the two other Missouri judicial nominees, Maria Lanahan, who like Divine works in the Missouri attorney general's office, and Judge Cristian Stevens. Read more: Trump appellate court nominee defends experience at US Senate hearing Trump judicial nominee Bove says he never advised defying courts Trump seeks to reshape judiciary as first nominees face Senate
E&E News
11-06-2025
- Politics
- E&E News
ABA defends its role in vetting nominees to federal courts
The president of the American Bar Association is pushing back on the Trump administration's recent decision to stop allowing the organization to vet the records of the president's federal judicial nominees. In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday, William Bay said the association was 'both surprised and disappointed' that its standing committee would not have access to judicial nominees and information about them for the first time in 72 years. 'The changes the Justice Department is apparently imposing will likely result in less transparency in the process of confirming nominees to lifetime appointments on the federal bench and appear to be based on incorrect information set forth in your letter,' said Bay. Advertisement His letter comes in response to a letter Bondi sent last month to the ABA stating that the association was 'no longer a fair arbiter of nominees' qualifications' and that the Justice Department would not direct judicial nominees to provide waivers granting the association access to nonpublic information, such as their bar records.
Reuters
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
ABA calls Bondi's decision to curtail judicial nominee vetting 'disturbing'
June 11 (Reuters) - The American Bar Association called the U.S. Department of Justice's decision to curtail its ability to vet President Donald Trump's judicial nominees "deeply disturbing" in a letter, opens new tab to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi released late on Tuesday. ABA President William Bay said the nonpartisan lawyer organization was "surprised and disappointed" by the department's recent decision to restrict its access to judicial nominees and information about them for the first time in seven decades. "The changes the Justice Department is apparently imposing will likely result in less transparency in the process of confirming nominees to lifetime appointments on the federal bench and appear to be based on incorrect information," Bay wrote. He urged Bondi to reconsider, saying the ABA's past access to nominees helped U.S. senators receive important insights about them during the confirmation process and "helps bolster the public's trust and confidence in our federal courts." The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Starting in 1953 during Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower's tenure, the ABA through its 15-member Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary has vetted judicial nominees before they were sent to the Senate, which must confirm them. Republicans have long claimed the organization is biased against conservatives. In 2001, Republican President George W. Bush ended the tradition of giving the ABA a first look at nominees. While Democratic President Barack Obama revived the practice, Trump ended it again in 2017 in his first term, and Democratic President Joe Biden did not revive the practice. The Justice Department's May 30 decision to cease directing nominees to fill out questionnaires from the ABA and provide waivers allowing it access to their bar and disciplinary records marked a further diminishment of the group's vetting role. In a May 29 letter to the ABA, Bondi contended that the ABA "no longer functions as a fair arbiter of nominees' qualifications, and its ratings invariably and demonstrably favor nominees put forth by Democratic administrations." During the first Trump administration, the ABA rated 10 of Trump's judicial nominees as "not qualified." He secured confirmation of 234 judicial nominees. Senate Democrats and Trump's critics say several of his 11 announced second-term judicial picks fall short of the ABA's typical standard that a nominee should have at least 12 years of experience in the practice of law. Among the young nominees to life-tenured positions on the bench who fall short of that metric is Whitney Hermandorfer, 37, who only graduated law school 10 years ago. She is nominated to join the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Bay, in his letter, said the ABA's Standing Committee does not advocate for nominees and had issued "Well Qualified" or "Qualified" ratings to no less than 96.9% of the nominees in each presidential administration during the last two decades, including during the first Trump administration. Read more: Justice Department curtails ABA role in vetting Trump's judicial nominees Trump nominates his former defense attorney Emil Bove to serve as appellate judge Trump readies to name 'fearless' conservative judges in second term
E&E News
05-06-2025
- General
- E&E News
Environment issues abound as panel grills Trump judicial picks
Senate Democrats spent much of the first hearing on President Donald Trump's second-term judicial nominees Wednesday grilling his pick for an influential federal appeals court about whether presidents must follow court orders. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday took up five judicial nominations, spending the bulk of time on Whitney Hermandorfer to serve on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The hearing comes as courts across the country have blocked — at least temporarily — some of Trump's efforts to reshape the federal government, prompting the president and his allies to lash out. Democrats pressed Hermandorfer on whether she would decide against the president. Advertisement 'My role would be to carry out my oath to the Constitution, first and foremost,' Hermandorfer told told Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), adding that she'd rule against the administration 'if that's what the law requires.'
News24
03-06-2025
- Business
- News24
Trump seeks to reshape judiciary as first nominees face Senate
Trump's new judicial picks face Senate panel. Nominees back abortion bans, oppose trans rights. Trump dumps Federalist Society, wants loyal judges. US President Donald Trump's first batch of judicial nominees since returning to the White House is set to go before a US Senate panel as the Republican looks to further reshape a judiciary whose members have stymied parts of his agenda. Five of the 11 judicial nominees Trump has announced so far are slated to appear on Wednesday before the Republican-led US Senate Judiciary Committee, which will weigh whether to recommend them for the full Senate's consideration. Those nominees all have conservative bona fides that their supporters say will help Trump shift the ideological balance of the judiciary further to the right after making 234 appointments in his first term, which was a near-record for a president's first four years in office. Trump's first-term appointees included three members of the US Supreme Court, which since gaining a 6-3 conservative majority has curtailed abortion rights, rejected affirmative action policies on university campuses and limited the power of administrative agencies. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement that Trump was committed to 'restoring integrity to the judicial system, which begins with appointing America First judges, not unelected politicians in robes.' Among Wednesday's nominees is Whitney Hermandorfer, who as a lawyer serving under Tennessee's Republican attorney general has defended the state's abortion ban and challenged federal protections for transgender youth. Hermandorfer, who is nominated to a seat on the Cincinnati-based 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals, will appear before the Senate panel with four nominees to fill trial court vacancies in Missouri. Those include Joshua Divine, Missouri's solicitor general, who challenged Democratic former President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness efforts and has defended abortion and transgender healthcare restrictions. The hearing comes days after Trump broke with conservative legal activist Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society, who advised Trump on judicial appointments in his first term. Trump wrote: I am so disappointed in The Federalist Society because of the bad advice they gave me on numerous judicial nominations. 'This is something that cannot be forgotten!' Leo in response said he was grateful Trump transformed the courts. He said the judiciary 'is better than it's ever been in modern history, and that will be President Trump's most important legacy.' Trump's attack on Leo came a day after a three-judge panel of the US Court of International Trade, including a Trump-appointed judge, blocked most of his tariffs. It is one of several rulings White House officials describe as part of a 'judicial coup' by judges who have blocked his policies. Mike Davis, whose conservative Article III Project backs Trump's judicial nominees, said that in his second term Trump 'doesn't need to appease the DC establishment with weak and timid judges.' 'He is picking bold and fearless judges, like Emil Bove, who will follow the Constitution instead of seeking establishment favour.' Bove, a Justice Department official who previously served as Trump's defence lawyer in the New York criminal trial over hush money paid to a porn star, was nominated last week to join the Philadelphia-based 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals. His nomination drew criticism from Democrats and Ed Whelan, a conservative legal commentator who in a piece in the National Review called Bove's nomination 'disturbing.' Whelan said in an interview: Clearly you have some folks agitating for MAGA-type nominees, and the White House will be open to those folks so long as they also have good legal qualifications. But he said most of Trump's nominees, as well as candidates in the pipeline, have fit within the rubric of what Trump would have sought in his first term. 'It's going to be very hard for Trump to pick people other than people with traditional conservative qualifications,' Whelan said.
