This article is part of TPM Café, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published in Balls and strikes.
Over the past seven weeks, Senate Republicans have increased the pace of confirmation of judges whose unified advantage hopelessness To show their loyalty to President Donald Trump above all else. Worse still, the Senate is treating it with less public scrutiny than usual and with little resistance, even by the standards of Senate Democrats. With a new vacancy on the 8th Circuit, Trump has another opportunity to cement Republican dominance of the nation’s most dysfunctional appeals court.
Vacancies
There are four nominees for North Carolina District Court on the Senate floor awaiting confirmation. The two nominees for Louisiana District Court will likely be voted out of committee before Thanksgiving, and hearings for the three new district court nominees — Peterson, Gangi and Foulkes — will be held on November 19.
Two Mississippi District Court nominees — Robert Chamberlain and James Maxwell, both current justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court — have been stuck in committee for months following a September hearing. The exact reason has not been revealed, although it appears to be related to some disagreements within the caucus between North Carolina Senator and Judiciary Committee member Thom Tillis and Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker. Since this resistance is greater than Senate Democrats have managed so far, I will accept it.
With little to do during the shutdown, Senate Republicans have confirmed 11 judges since October 1, including four circuit judges: Jennifer Massicot to the 3rd Circuit, Rebecca Taibelson to the 7th Circuit, Joshua Dunlap to the 1st Circuit, and Eric Tong to the 9th Circuit. Dunlap is the only one to hold the seat previously held by a Democratic appointee, and the first Trump appointee to the 1st District in either term. At the district court level, the Senate also confirmed Harold Mote, Bill Lewis, and Edmund LaCour to the district court bench in Alabama, Ann Lee Gaylord Moe and Jordan Pratt to the district court bench in Florida, William Mercer to the district court bench in Montana, and Chad Meredith to the district court bench in Kentucky.
Mascot’s October 9 confirmation is notable for its timing: She was nominated and had her hearing months after Dunlap and Tong, but she jumped the line for confirmation so she could be seated days before Bank’s 3rd Circuit. I heard the challenge To ban assault weapons in New Jersey. And given the deeply divided makeup of the appeals court in Philadelphia, Mascot could end up casting the deciding vote to overturn New Jersey’s ban, which would create the circuit split that the Supreme Court’s Republican justices have longed to be able to take the case and further erode state-level efforts to protect their citizens from mass slaughter.
What’s next
There are four nominees for North Carolina District Court on the Senate floor awaiting confirmation. The two nominees for Louisiana District Court will likely be voted out of committee before Thanksgiving, and hearings for the three new district court nominees — Peterson, Gangi and Foulkes — will be held on November 19.
Two Mississippi District Court nominees — Robert Chamberlain and James Maxwell, both current justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court — have been stuck in committee for months following a September hearing. The exact reason has not been revealed, although it appears to be related to some disagreements within the caucus between North Carolina Senator and Judiciary Committee member Thom Tillis and Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker. Since this resistance is greater than Senate Democrats have managed so far, I will accept it.
With little to do during the shutdown, Senate Republicans have confirmed 11 judges since October 1, including four circuit judges: Jennifer Massicot to the 3rd Circuit, Rebecca Taibelson to the 7th Circuit, Joshua Dunlap to the 1st Circuit, and Eric Tong to the 9th Circuit. Dunlap is the only one to hold the seat previously held by a Democratic appointee, and the first Trump appointee to the 1st District in either term. At the district court level, the Senate also confirmed Harold Mote, Bill Lewis, and Edmund LaCour to the district court bench in Alabama, Ann Lee Gaylord Moe and Jordan Pratt to the district court bench in Florida, William Mercer to the district court bench in Montana, and Chad Meredith to the district court bench in Kentucky.
Mascot’s October 9 confirmation is notable for its timing: She was nominated and had her hearing months after Dunlap and Tong, but she jumped the line for confirmation so she could be seated days before Bank’s 3rd Circuit. I heard the challenge To ban assault weapons in New Jersey. And given the deeply divided makeup of the appeals court in Philadelphia, Mascot could end up casting the deciding vote to overturn New Jersey’s ban, which would create the circuit split that the Supreme Court’s Republican justices have longed to be able to take the case and further erode state-level efforts to protect their citizens from mass slaughter.
What’s next
There are four nominees for North Carolina District Court on the Senate floor awaiting confirmation. The two nominees for Louisiana District Court will likely be voted out of committee before Thanksgiving, and hearings for the three new district court nominees — Peterson, Gangi and Foulkes — will be held on November 19.
Two Mississippi District Court nominees — Robert Chamberlain and James Maxwell, both current justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court — have been stuck in committee for months following a September hearing. The exact reason has not been revealed, although it appears to be related to some disagreements within the caucus between North Carolina Senator and Judiciary Committee member Thom Tillis and Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker. Since this resistance is greater than Senate Democrats have managed so far, I will accept it.
This is highly unusual, if not unprecedented. It has become well-established practice — in previous Republican and Democratic administrations alike — for the White House to publicly announce the nominee at the same time it sends its materials to the committee, in order to give the public an opportunity to vote as well. The importance of this type of scrutiny has never been clearer: think again Everything we learned About Emil Bove’s disqualification for judicial office, for example, in the four weeks between his public nomination and the hearing. It is perhaps no coincidence that Trump stopped giving advance notice after the circus that served as Bove’s confirmation. In doing so, the White House effectively cuts the time a nominee spends under the public microscope in half.
Perhaps most troubling is that the committee’s Democrats said nothing about it. No one mentioned during Crane and Van Hook’s October 22 hearing how the public had been kept in the dark about their nominations until 48 hours before. No one objected to the deliberate erosion of another institutional base. No one alerted the White House and Republicans on the committee that Democrats knew what Trump was doing and would not let him get away with it. Then again, we’re talking about Senate Democrats, a group that has never seen a fight they couldn’t finish fast enough.
Affirmations
With little to do during the shutdown, Senate Republicans have confirmed 11 judges since October 1, including four circuit judges: Jennifer Massicot to the 3rd Circuit, Rebecca Taibelson to the 7th Circuit, Joshua Dunlap to the 1st Circuit, and Eric Tong to the 9th Circuit. Dunlap is the only one to hold the seat previously held by a Democratic appointee, and the first Trump appointee to the 1st District in either term. At the district court level, the Senate also confirmed Harold Mote, Bill Lewis, and Edmund LaCour to the district court bench in Alabama, Ann Lee Gaylord Moe and Jordan Pratt to the district court bench in Florida, William Mercer to the district court bench in Montana, and Chad Meredith to the district court bench in Kentucky.
Mascot’s October 9 confirmation is notable for its timing: She was nominated and had her hearing months after Dunlap and Tong, but she jumped the line for confirmation so she could be seated days before Bank’s 3rd Circuit. I heard the challenge To ban assault weapons in New Jersey. And given the deeply divided makeup of the appeals court in Philadelphia, Mascot could end up casting the deciding vote to overturn New Jersey’s ban, which would create the circuit split that the Supreme Court’s Republican justices have longed to be able to take the case and further erode state-level efforts to protect their citizens from mass slaughter.
What’s next
There are four nominees for North Carolina District Court on the Senate floor awaiting confirmation. The two nominees for Louisiana District Court will likely be voted out of committee before Thanksgiving, and hearings for the three new district court nominees — Peterson, Gangi and Foulkes — will be held on November 19.
Two Mississippi District Court nominees — Robert Chamberlain and James Maxwell, both current justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court — have been stuck in committee for months following a September hearing. The exact reason has not been revealed, although it appears to be related to some disagreements within the caucus between North Carolina Senator and Judiciary Committee member Thom Tillis and Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker. Since this resistance is greater than Senate Democrats have managed so far, I will accept it.
Perhaps more troubling than the candidates themselves is the secrecy surrounding their nominations. In late September, the White House sent background information on Crane and Van Hook to the Judiciary Committee. Under informal practice, the committee typically receives this information at least 28 days before a nominee’s hearing to give committee members ample time to do their due diligence. But Trump did not announce the Louisiana nominations until October 20 — just two days before the October 22 hearing. Likewise, Trump waited until yesterday – November 12 – to announce the nominations of Peterson, Gangi and Folks, although Reuters certain The Judicial Committee received the candidates’ questionnaires weeks ago.
This is highly unusual, if not unprecedented. It has become well-established practice — in previous Republican and Democratic administrations alike — for the White House to publicly announce the nominee at the same time it sends its materials to the committee, in order to give the public an opportunity to vote as well. The importance of this type of scrutiny has never been clearer: think again Everything we learned About Emil Bove’s disqualification for judicial office, for example, in the four weeks between his public nomination and the hearing. It is perhaps no coincidence that Trump stopped giving advance notice after the circus that served as Bove’s confirmation. In doing so, the White House effectively cuts the time a nominee spends under the public microscope in half.
Perhaps most troubling is that the committee’s Democrats said nothing about it. No one mentioned during Crane and Van Hook’s October 22 hearing how the public had been kept in the dark about their nominations until 48 hours before. No one objected to the deliberate erosion of another institutional base. No one alerted the White House and Republicans on the committee that Democrats knew what Trump was doing and would not let him get away with it. Then again, we’re talking about Senate Democrats, a group that has never seen a fight they couldn’t finish fast enough.
Affirmations
With little to do during the shutdown, Senate Republicans have confirmed 11 judges since October 1, including four circuit judges: Jennifer Massicot to the 3rd Circuit, Rebecca Taibelson to the 7th Circuit, Joshua Dunlap to the 1st Circuit, and Eric Tong to the 9th Circuit. Dunlap is the only one to hold the seat previously held by a Democratic appointee, and the first Trump appointee to the 1st District in either term. At the district court level, the Senate also confirmed Harold Mote, Bill Lewis, and Edmund LaCour to the district court bench in Alabama, Ann Lee Gaylord Moe and Jordan Pratt to the district court bench in Florida, William Mercer to the district court bench in Montana, and Chad Meredith to the district court bench in Kentucky.
Mascot’s October 9 confirmation is notable for its timing: She was nominated and had her hearing months after Dunlap and Tong, but she jumped the line for confirmation so she could be seated days before Bank’s 3rd Circuit. I heard the challenge To ban assault weapons in New Jersey. And given the deeply divided makeup of the appeals court in Philadelphia, Mascot could end up casting the deciding vote to overturn New Jersey’s ban, which would create the circuit split that the Supreme Court’s Republican justices have longed to be able to take the case and further erode state-level efforts to protect their citizens from mass slaughter.
What’s next
There are four nominees for North Carolina District Court on the Senate floor awaiting confirmation. The two nominees for Louisiana District Court will likely be voted out of committee before Thanksgiving, and hearings for the three new district court nominees — Peterson, Gangi and Foulkes — will be held on November 19.
Two Mississippi District Court nominees — Robert Chamberlain and James Maxwell, both current justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court — have been stuck in committee for months following a September hearing. The exact reason has not been revealed, although it appears to be related to some disagreements within the caucus between North Carolina Senator and Judiciary Committee member Thom Tillis and Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker. Since this resistance is greater than Senate Democrats have managed so far, I will accept it.
On October 23, Trump also selected Aaron Peterson for the Alaska District, Nicholas Gangi for the Southern District of Texas, and David Wilkerson Folks for the Western District of Arkansas. Peterson is a state’s attorney for life. Ganji is the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, and previously served as senior counsel to Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Foulkes also serves as a federal prosecutor, currently serving as United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.
Perhaps more troubling than the candidates themselves is the secrecy surrounding their nominations. In late September, the White House sent background information on Crane and Van Hook to the Judiciary Committee. Under informal practice, the committee typically receives this information at least 28 days before a nominee’s hearing to give committee members ample time to do their due diligence. But Trump did not announce the Louisiana nominations until October 20 — just two days before the October 22 hearing. Likewise, Trump waited until yesterday – November 12 – to announce the nominations of Peterson, Gangi and Folks, although Reuters certain The Judicial Committee received the candidates’ questionnaires weeks ago.
This is highly unusual, if not unprecedented. It has become well-established practice — in previous Republican and Democratic administrations alike — for the White House to publicly announce the nominee at the same time it sends its materials to the committee, in order to give the public an opportunity to vote as well. The importance of this type of scrutiny has never been clearer: think again Everything we learned About Emil Bove’s disqualification for judicial office, for example, in the four weeks between his public nomination and the hearing. It is perhaps no coincidence that Trump stopped giving advance notice after the circus that served as Bove’s confirmation. In doing so, the White House effectively cuts the time a nominee spends under the public microscope in half.
Perhaps most troubling is that the committee’s Democrats said nothing about it. No one mentioned during Crane and Van Hook’s October 22 hearing how the public had been kept in the dark about their nominations until 48 hours before. No one objected to the deliberate erosion of another institutional base. No one alerted the White House and Republicans on the committee that Democrats knew what Trump was doing and would not let him get away with it. Then again, we’re talking about Senate Democrats, a group that has never seen a fight they couldn’t finish fast enough.
Affirmations
With little to do during the shutdown, Senate Republicans have confirmed 11 judges since October 1, including four circuit judges: Jennifer Massicot to the 3rd Circuit, Rebecca Taibelson to the 7th Circuit, Joshua Dunlap to the 1st Circuit, and Eric Tong to the 9th Circuit. Dunlap is the only one to hold the seat previously held by a Democratic appointee, and the first Trump appointee to the 1st District in either term. At the district court level, the Senate also confirmed Harold Mote, Bill Lewis, and Edmund LaCour to the district court bench in Alabama, Ann Lee Gaylord Moe and Jordan Pratt to the district court bench in Florida, William Mercer to the district court bench in Montana, and Chad Meredith to the district court bench in Kentucky.
Mascot’s October 9 confirmation is notable for its timing: She was nominated and had her hearing months after Dunlap and Tong, but she jumped the line for confirmation so she could be seated days before Bank’s 3rd Circuit. I heard the challenge To ban assault weapons in New Jersey. And given the deeply divided makeup of the appeals court in Philadelphia, Mascot could end up casting the deciding vote to overturn New Jersey’s ban, which would create the circuit split that the Supreme Court’s Republican justices have longed to be able to take the case and further erode state-level efforts to protect their citizens from mass slaughter.
What’s next
There are four nominees for North Carolina District Court on the Senate floor awaiting confirmation. The two nominees for Louisiana District Court will likely be voted out of committee before Thanksgiving, and hearings for the three new district court nominees — Peterson, Gangi and Foulkes — will be held on November 19.
Two Mississippi District Court nominees — Robert Chamberlain and James Maxwell, both current justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court — have been stuck in committee for months following a September hearing. The exact reason has not been revealed, although it appears to be related to some disagreements within the caucus between North Carolina Senator and Judiciary Committee member Thom Tillis and Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker. Since this resistance is greater than Senate Democrats have managed so far, I will accept it.
Van Hook has spent nearly all of his 25-year legal career as a federal prosecutor in Louisiana, where he was most recently acting Deputy U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. Crane is a Louisiana Supreme Court justice with a record that is troubling even for a Louisiana Supreme Court justice. He wrote an opinion hit down Executive orders related to the coronavirus are intended to limit social gatherings. He dissented when the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled He vacated a life sentence After the defendant’s attorney was found to have provided ineffective assistance. Also voted against Allowing abortion clinics To continue working temporarily after the Supreme Court opinion Dobbs v. Women’s Health Jackson He pushed the state’s “sexy” abortion ban to take effect.
On October 23, Trump also selected Aaron Peterson for the Alaska District, Nicholas Gangi for the Southern District of Texas, and David Wilkerson Folks for the Western District of Arkansas. Peterson is a state’s attorney for life. Ganji is the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, and previously served as senior counsel to Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Foulkes also serves as a federal prosecutor, currently serving as United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.
Perhaps more troubling than the candidates themselves is the secrecy surrounding their nominations. In late September, the White House sent background information on Crane and Van Hook to the Judiciary Committee. Under informal practice, the committee typically receives this information at least 28 days before a nominee’s hearing to give committee members ample time to do their due diligence. But Trump did not announce the Louisiana nominations until October 20 — just two days before the October 22 hearing. Likewise, Trump waited until yesterday – November 12 – to announce the nominations of Peterson, Gangi and Folks, although Reuters certain The Judicial Committee received the candidates’ questionnaires weeks ago.
This is highly unusual, if not unprecedented. It has become well-established practice — in previous Republican and Democratic administrations alike — for the White House to publicly announce the nominee at the same time it sends its materials to the committee, in order to give the public an opportunity to vote as well. The importance of this type of scrutiny has never been clearer: think again Everything we learned About Emil Bove’s disqualification for judicial office, for example, in the four weeks between his public nomination and the hearing. It is perhaps no coincidence that Trump stopped giving advance notice after the circus that served as Bove’s confirmation. In doing so, the White House effectively cuts the time a nominee spends under the public microscope in half.
Perhaps most troubling is that the committee’s Democrats said nothing about it. No one mentioned during Crane and Van Hook’s October 22 hearing how the public had been kept in the dark about their nominations until 48 hours before. No one objected to the deliberate erosion of another institutional base. No one alerted the White House and Republicans on the committee that Democrats knew what Trump was doing and would not let him get away with it. Then again, we’re talking about Senate Democrats, a group that has never seen a fight they couldn’t finish fast enough.
Affirmations
With little to do during the shutdown, Senate Republicans have confirmed 11 judges since October 1, including four circuit judges: Jennifer Massicot to the 3rd Circuit, Rebecca Taibelson to the 7th Circuit, Joshua Dunlap to the 1st Circuit, and Eric Tong to the 9th Circuit. Dunlap is the only one to hold the seat previously held by a Democratic appointee, and the first Trump appointee to the 1st District in either term. At the district court level, the Senate also confirmed Harold Mote, Bill Lewis, and Edmund LaCour to the district court bench in Alabama, Ann Lee Gaylord Moe and Jordan Pratt to the district court bench in Florida, William Mercer to the district court bench in Montana, and Chad Meredith to the district court bench in Kentucky.
Mascot’s October 9 confirmation is notable for its timing: She was nominated and had her hearing months after Dunlap and Tong, but she jumped the line for confirmation so she could be seated days before Bank’s 3rd Circuit. I heard the challenge To ban assault weapons in New Jersey. And given the deeply divided makeup of the appeals court in Philadelphia, Mascot could end up casting the deciding vote to overturn New Jersey’s ban, which would create the circuit split that the Supreme Court’s Republican justices have longed to be able to take the case and further erode state-level efforts to protect their citizens from mass slaughter.
What’s next
There are four nominees for North Carolina District Court on the Senate floor awaiting confirmation. The two nominees for Louisiana District Court will likely be voted out of committee before Thanksgiving, and hearings for the three new district court nominees — Peterson, Gangi and Foulkes — will be held on November 19.
Two Mississippi District Court nominees — Robert Chamberlain and James Maxwell, both current justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court — have been stuck in committee for months following a September hearing. The exact reason has not been revealed, although it appears to be related to some disagreements within the caucus between North Carolina Senator and Judiciary Committee member Thom Tillis and Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker. Since this resistance is greater than Senate Democrats have managed so far, I will accept it.
since Final payment In this column, Trump picked five other district court nominees. In late September, Trump selected William Crane for the Eastern District of Louisiana and Alexander Van Hook for the Western District of Louisiana.
Van Hook has spent nearly all of his 25-year legal career as a federal prosecutor in Louisiana, where he was most recently acting Deputy U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. Crane is a Louisiana Supreme Court justice with a record that is troubling even for a Louisiana Supreme Court justice. He wrote an opinion hit down Executive orders related to the coronavirus are intended to limit social gatherings. He dissented when the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled He vacated a life sentence After the defendant’s attorney was found to have provided ineffective assistance. Also voted against Allowing abortion clinics To continue working temporarily after the Supreme Court opinion Dobbs v. Women’s Health Jackson He pushed the state’s “sexy” abortion ban to take effect.
On October 23, Trump also selected Aaron Peterson for the Alaska District, Nicholas Gangi for the Southern District of Texas, and David Wilkerson Folks for the Western District of Arkansas. Peterson is a state’s attorney for life. Ganji is the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, and previously served as senior counsel to Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Foulkes also serves as a federal prosecutor, currently serving as United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.
Perhaps more troubling than the candidates themselves is the secrecy surrounding their nominations. In late September, the White House sent background information on Crane and Van Hook to the Judiciary Committee. Under informal practice, the committee typically receives this information at least 28 days before a nominee’s hearing to give committee members ample time to do their due diligence. But Trump did not announce the Louisiana nominations until October 20 — just two days before the October 22 hearing. Likewise, Trump waited until yesterday – November 12 – to announce the nominations of Peterson, Gangi and Folks, although Reuters certain The Judicial Committee received the candidates’ questionnaires weeks ago.
This is highly unusual, if not unprecedented. It has become well-established practice — in previous Republican and Democratic administrations alike — for the White House to publicly announce the nominee at the same time it sends its materials to the committee, in order to give the public an opportunity to vote as well. The importance of this type of scrutiny has never been clearer: think again Everything we learned About Emil Bove’s disqualification for judicial office, for example, in the four weeks between his public nomination and the hearing. It is perhaps no coincidence that Trump stopped giving advance notice after the circus that served as Bove’s confirmation. In doing so, the White House effectively cuts the time a nominee spends under the public microscope in half.
Perhaps most troubling is that the committee’s Democrats said nothing about it. No one mentioned during Crane and Van Hook’s October 22 hearing how the public had been kept in the dark about their nominations until 48 hours before. No one objected to the deliberate erosion of another institutional base. No one alerted the White House and Republicans on the committee that Democrats knew what Trump was doing and would not let him get away with it. Then again, we’re talking about Senate Democrats, a group that has never seen a fight they couldn’t finish fast enough.
Affirmations
With little to do during the shutdown, Senate Republicans have confirmed 11 judges since October 1, including four circuit judges: Jennifer Massicot to the 3rd Circuit, Rebecca Taibelson to the 7th Circuit, Joshua Dunlap to the 1st Circuit, and Eric Tong to the 9th Circuit. Dunlap is the only one to hold the seat previously held by a Democratic appointee, and the first Trump appointee to the 1st District in either term. At the district court level, the Senate also confirmed Harold Mote, Bill Lewis, and Edmund LaCour to the district court bench in Alabama, Ann Lee Gaylord Moe and Jordan Pratt to the district court bench in Florida, William Mercer to the district court bench in Montana, and Chad Meredith to the district court bench in Kentucky.
Mascot’s October 9 confirmation is notable for its timing: She was nominated and had her hearing months after Dunlap and Tong, but she jumped the line for confirmation so she could be seated days before Bank’s 3rd Circuit. I heard the challenge To ban assault weapons in New Jersey. And given the deeply divided makeup of the appeals court in Philadelphia, Mascot could end up casting the deciding vote to overturn New Jersey’s ban, which would create the circuit split that the Supreme Court’s Republican justices have longed to be able to take the case and further erode state-level efforts to protect their citizens from mass slaughter.
What’s next
There are four nominees for North Carolina District Court on the Senate floor awaiting confirmation. The two nominees for Louisiana District Court will likely be voted out of committee before Thanksgiving, and hearings for the three new district court nominees — Peterson, Gangi and Foulkes — will be held on November 19.
Two Mississippi District Court nominees — Robert Chamberlain and James Maxwell, both current justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court — have been stuck in committee for months following a September hearing. The exact reason has not been revealed, although it appears to be related to some disagreements within the caucus between North Carolina Senator and Judiciary Committee member Thom Tillis and Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker. Since this resistance is greater than Senate Democrats have managed so far, I will accept it.
since Final payment In this column, Trump picked five other district court nominees. In late September, Trump selected William Crane for the Eastern District of Louisiana and Alexander Van Hook for the Western District of Louisiana.
Van Hook has spent nearly all of his 25-year legal career as a federal prosecutor in Louisiana, where he was most recently acting Deputy U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. Crane is a Louisiana Supreme Court justice with a record that is troubling even for a Louisiana Supreme Court justice. He wrote an opinion hit down Executive orders related to the coronavirus are intended to limit social gatherings. He dissented when the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled He vacated a life sentence After the defendant’s attorney was found to have provided ineffective assistance. Also voted against Allowing abortion clinics To continue working temporarily after the Supreme Court opinion Dobbs v. Women’s Health Jackson He pushed the state’s “sexy” abortion ban to take effect.
On October 23, Trump also selected Aaron Peterson for the Alaska District, Nicholas Gangi for the Southern District of Texas, and David Wilkerson Folks for the Western District of Arkansas. Peterson is a state’s attorney for life. Ganji is the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, and previously served as senior counsel to Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Foulkes also serves as a federal prosecutor, currently serving as United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.
Perhaps more troubling than the candidates themselves is the secrecy surrounding their nominations. In late September, the White House sent background information on Crane and Van Hook to the Judiciary Committee. Under informal practice, the committee typically receives this information at least 28 days before a nominee’s hearing to give committee members ample time to do their due diligence. But Trump did not announce the Louisiana nominations until October 20 — just two days before the October 22 hearing. Likewise, Trump waited until yesterday – November 12 – to announce the nominations of Peterson, Gangi and Folks, although Reuters certain The Judicial Committee received the candidates’ questionnaires weeks ago.
This is highly unusual, if not unprecedented. It has become well-established practice — in previous Republican and Democratic administrations alike — for the White House to publicly announce the nominee at the same time it sends its materials to the committee, in order to give the public an opportunity to vote as well. The importance of this type of scrutiny has never been clearer: think again Everything we learned About Emil Bove’s disqualification for judicial office, for example, in the four weeks between his public nomination and the hearing. It is perhaps no coincidence that Trump stopped giving advance notice after the circus that served as Bove’s confirmation. In doing so, the White House effectively cuts the time a nominee spends under the public microscope in half.
Perhaps most troubling is that the committee’s Democrats said nothing about it. No one mentioned during Crane and Van Hook’s October 22 hearing how the public had been kept in the dark about their nominations until 48 hours before. No one objected to the deliberate erosion of another institutional base. No one alerted the White House and Republicans on the committee that Democrats knew what Trump was doing and would not let him get away with it. Then again, we’re talking about Senate Democrats, a group that has never seen a fight they couldn’t finish fast enough.
Affirmations
With little to do during the shutdown, Senate Republicans have confirmed 11 judges since October 1, including four circuit judges: Jennifer Massicot to the 3rd Circuit, Rebecca Taibelson to the 7th Circuit, Joshua Dunlap to the 1st Circuit, and Eric Tong to the 9th Circuit. Dunlap is the only one to hold the seat previously held by a Democratic appointee, and the first Trump appointee to the 1st District in either term. At the district court level, the Senate also confirmed Harold Mote, Bill Lewis, and Edmund LaCour to the district court bench in Alabama, Ann Lee Gaylord Moe and Jordan Pratt to the district court bench in Florida, William Mercer to the district court bench in Montana, and Chad Meredith to the district court bench in Kentucky.
Mascot’s October 9 confirmation is notable for its timing: She was nominated and had her hearing months after Dunlap and Tong, but she jumped the line for confirmation so she could be seated days before Bank’s 3rd Circuit. I heard the challenge To ban assault weapons in New Jersey. And given the deeply divided makeup of the appeals court in Philadelphia, Mascot could end up casting the deciding vote to overturn New Jersey’s ban, which would create the circuit split that the Supreme Court’s Republican justices have longed to be able to take the case and further erode state-level efforts to protect their citizens from mass slaughter.
What’s next
There are four nominees for North Carolina District Court on the Senate floor awaiting confirmation. The two nominees for Louisiana District Court will likely be voted out of committee before Thanksgiving, and hearings for the three new district court nominees — Peterson, Gangi and Foulkes — will be held on November 19.
Two Mississippi District Court nominees — Robert Chamberlain and James Maxwell, both current justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court — have been stuck in committee for months following a September hearing. The exact reason has not been revealed, although it appears to be related to some disagreements within the caucus between North Carolina Senator and Judiciary Committee member Thom Tillis and Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker. Since this resistance is greater than Senate Democrats have managed so far, I will accept it.
You won’t find James’s narcissistic bombast, Kyle Duncan’s aggressive hostility to all things LGBT, or Lawrence VanDyke’s awkward need for attention in Benton’s opinions. But he is nonetheless a reliable conservative voice, and an important one on a court already leaning heavily to the right. Last August, Benton wrote an opinion for the entire 8th Circuit Hold on Arkansas’ ban on gender-confirming medical care for minors, based largely on the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Skremitiwhich held that a similar law in Tennessee did not impermissibly discriminate on the basis of “sex” or “transgender status.” Last summer, Benton It was considered unconstitutional Minnesota law prohibits 18- to 20-year-olds from carrying handguns in public because “the plain text of the Second Amendment contains no upper age limit,” and 18- to 20-year-olds “are unequivocally members of the people” to whom the amendment gives the right “to keep and bear arms.”
Benton is located in Missouri, giving Trump a deep well from which to draw potential alternatives. Trump has already made four appointments this term to the state’s federal district courts — Josh Devine, Maria Lanahan, Christian Stevens, and Zachary Bluestone — three of whom are 39 or younger, including Devine, who is just 35. Trump’s attorney general, Dr. John Sawyer, 50, is a former Missouri attorney general who has shown on multiple occasions that he is willing. He humiliates himself At Trump’s request. Erin Hawley, 46 and wife of Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, has spent her career opposing abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. Everyone is sure to get consideration for Benton’s seat.
Candidates and Hearings
since Final payment In this column, Trump picked five other district court nominees. In late September, Trump selected William Crane for the Eastern District of Louisiana and Alexander Van Hook for the Western District of Louisiana.
Van Hook has spent nearly all of his 25-year legal career as a federal prosecutor in Louisiana, where he was most recently acting Deputy U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. Crane is a Louisiana Supreme Court justice with a record that is troubling even for a Louisiana Supreme Court justice. He wrote an opinion hit down Executive orders related to the coronavirus are intended to limit social gatherings. He dissented when the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled He vacated a life sentence After the defendant’s attorney was found to have provided ineffective assistance. Also voted against Allowing abortion clinics To continue working temporarily after the Supreme Court opinion Dobbs v. Women’s Health Jackson He pushed the state’s “sexy” abortion ban to take effect.
On October 23, Trump also selected Aaron Peterson for the Alaska District, Nicholas Gangi for the Southern District of Texas, and David Wilkerson Folks for the Western District of Arkansas. Peterson is a state’s attorney for life. Ganji is the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, and previously served as senior counsel to Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Foulkes also serves as a federal prosecutor, currently serving as United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.
Perhaps more troubling than the candidates themselves is the secrecy surrounding their nominations. In late September, the White House sent background information on Crane and Van Hook to the Judiciary Committee. Under informal practice, the committee typically receives this information at least 28 days before a nominee’s hearing to give committee members ample time to do their due diligence. But Trump did not announce the Louisiana nominations until October 20 — just two days before the October 22 hearing. Likewise, Trump waited until yesterday – November 12 – to announce the nominations of Peterson, Gangi and Folks, although Reuters certain The Judicial Committee received the candidates’ questionnaires weeks ago.
This is highly unusual, if not unprecedented. It has become well-established practice — in previous Republican and Democratic administrations alike — for the White House to publicly announce the nominee at the same time it sends its materials to the committee, in order to give the public an opportunity to vote as well. The importance of this type of scrutiny has never been clearer: think again Everything we learned About Emil Bove’s disqualification for judicial office, for example, in the four weeks between his public nomination and the hearing. It is perhaps no coincidence that Trump stopped giving advance notice after the circus that served as Bove’s confirmation. In doing so, the White House effectively cuts the time a nominee spends under the public microscope in half.
Perhaps most troubling is that the committee’s Democrats said nothing about it. No one mentioned during Crane and Van Hook’s October 22 hearing how the public had been kept in the dark about their nominations until 48 hours before. No one objected to the deliberate erosion of another institutional base. No one alerted the White House and Republicans on the committee that Democrats knew what Trump was doing and would not let him get away with it. Then again, we’re talking about Senate Democrats, a group that has never seen a fight they couldn’t finish fast enough.
Affirmations
With little to do during the shutdown, Senate Republicans have confirmed 11 judges since October 1, including four circuit judges: Jennifer Massicot to the 3rd Circuit, Rebecca Taibelson to the 7th Circuit, Joshua Dunlap to the 1st Circuit, and Eric Tong to the 9th Circuit. Dunlap is the only one to hold the seat previously held by a Democratic appointee, and the first Trump appointee to the 1st District in either term. At the district court level, the Senate also confirmed Harold Mote, Bill Lewis, and Edmund LaCour to the district court bench in Alabama, Ann Lee Gaylord Moe and Jordan Pratt to the district court bench in Florida, William Mercer to the district court bench in Montana, and Chad Meredith to the district court bench in Kentucky.
Mascot’s October 9 confirmation is notable for its timing: She was nominated and had her hearing months after Dunlap and Tong, but she jumped the line for confirmation so she could be seated days before Bank’s 3rd Circuit. I heard the challenge To ban assault weapons in New Jersey. And given the deeply divided makeup of the appeals court in Philadelphia, Mascot could end up casting the deciding vote to overturn New Jersey’s ban, which would create the circuit split that the Supreme Court’s Republican justices have longed to be able to take the case and further erode state-level efforts to protect their citizens from mass slaughter.
What’s next
There are four nominees for North Carolina District Court on the Senate floor awaiting confirmation. The two nominees for Louisiana District Court will likely be voted out of committee before Thanksgiving, and hearings for the three new district court nominees — Peterson, Gangi and Foulkes — will be held on November 19.
Two Mississippi District Court nominees — Robert Chamberlain and James Maxwell, both current justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court — have been stuck in committee for months following a September hearing. The exact reason has not been revealed, although it appears to be related to some disagreements within the caucus between North Carolina Senator and Judiciary Committee member Thom Tillis and Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker. Since this resistance is greater than Senate Democrats have managed so far, I will accept it.
No federal appeals court suffers a more pronounced partisan breakdown than the 8th Circuit: ten of the court’s 11 serving judges (and 11 of its 12 judges overall) were appointed by Republican presidents. Trump appointed four of these judges in his first term, and the American Bar Association deemed two of them “unqualified.” The opportunity for Trump to replace Benton (and perhaps others) may not reshape the court, but it could reinvigorate it and lock in the absolute Republican majority for decades to come.
You won’t find James’s narcissistic bombast, Kyle Duncan’s aggressive hostility to all things LGBT, or Lawrence VanDyke’s awkward need for attention in Benton’s opinions. But he is nonetheless a reliable conservative voice, and an important one on a court already leaning heavily to the right. Last August, Benton wrote an opinion for the entire 8th Circuit Hold on Arkansas’ ban on gender-confirming medical care for minors, based largely on the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Skremitiwhich held that a similar law in Tennessee did not impermissibly discriminate on the basis of “sex” or “transgender status.” Last summer, Benton It was considered unconstitutional Minnesota law prohibits 18- to 20-year-olds from carrying handguns in public because “the plain text of the Second Amendment contains no upper age limit,” and 18- to 20-year-olds “are unequivocally members of the people” to whom the amendment gives the right “to keep and bear arms.”
Benton is located in Missouri, giving Trump a deep well from which to draw potential alternatives. Trump has already made four appointments this term to the state’s federal district courts — Josh Devine, Maria Lanahan, Christian Stevens, and Zachary Bluestone — three of whom are 39 or younger, including Devine, who is just 35. Trump’s attorney general, Dr. John Sawyer, 50, is a former Missouri attorney general who has shown on multiple occasions that he is willing. He humiliates himself At Trump’s request. Erin Hawley, 46 and wife of Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, has spent her career opposing abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. Everyone is sure to get consideration for Benton’s seat.
Candidates and Hearings
since Final payment In this column, Trump picked five other district court nominees. In late September, Trump selected William Crane for the Eastern District of Louisiana and Alexander Van Hook for the Western District of Louisiana.
Van Hook has spent nearly all of his 25-year legal career as a federal prosecutor in Louisiana, where he was most recently acting Deputy U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. Crane is a Louisiana Supreme Court justice with a record that is troubling even for a Louisiana Supreme Court justice. He wrote an opinion hit down Executive orders related to the coronavirus are intended to limit social gatherings. He dissented when the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled He vacated a life sentence After the defendant’s attorney was found to have provided ineffective assistance. Also voted against Allowing abortion clinics To continue working temporarily after the Supreme Court opinion Dobbs v. Women’s Health Jackson He pushed the state’s “sexy” abortion ban to take effect.
On October 23, Trump also selected Aaron Peterson for the Alaska District, Nicholas Gangi for the Southern District of Texas, and David Wilkerson Folks for the Western District of Arkansas. Peterson is a state’s attorney for life. Ganji is the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, and previously served as senior counsel to Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Foulkes also serves as a federal prosecutor, currently serving as United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.
Perhaps more troubling than the candidates themselves is the secrecy surrounding their nominations. In late September, the White House sent background information on Crane and Van Hook to the Judiciary Committee. Under informal practice, the committee typically receives this information at least 28 days before a nominee’s hearing to give committee members ample time to do their due diligence. But Trump did not announce the Louisiana nominations until October 20 — just two days before the October 22 hearing. Likewise, Trump waited until yesterday – November 12 – to announce the nominations of Peterson, Gangi and Folks, although Reuters certain The Judicial Committee received the candidates’ questionnaires weeks ago.
This is highly unusual, if not unprecedented. It has become well-established practice — in previous Republican and Democratic administrations alike — for the White House to publicly announce the nominee at the same time it sends its materials to the committee, in order to give the public an opportunity to vote as well. The importance of this type of scrutiny has never been clearer: think again Everything we learned About Emil Bove’s disqualification for judicial office, for example, in the four weeks between his public nomination and the hearing. It is perhaps no coincidence that Trump stopped giving advance notice after the circus that served as Bove’s confirmation. In doing so, the White House effectively cuts the time a nominee spends under the public microscope in half.
Perhaps most troubling is that the committee’s Democrats said nothing about it. No one mentioned during Crane and Van Hook’s October 22 hearing how the public had been kept in the dark about their nominations until 48 hours before. No one objected to the deliberate erosion of another institutional base. No one alerted the White House and Republicans on the committee that Democrats knew what Trump was doing and would not let him get away with it. Then again, we’re talking about Senate Democrats, a group that has never seen a fight they couldn’t finish fast enough.
Affirmations
With little to do during the shutdown, Senate Republicans have confirmed 11 judges since October 1, including four circuit judges: Jennifer Massicot to the 3rd Circuit, Rebecca Taibelson to the 7th Circuit, Joshua Dunlap to the 1st Circuit, and Eric Tong to the 9th Circuit. Dunlap is the only one to hold the seat previously held by a Democratic appointee, and the first Trump appointee to the 1st District in either term. At the district court level, the Senate also confirmed Harold Mote, Bill Lewis, and Edmund LaCour to the district court bench in Alabama, Ann Lee Gaylord Moe and Jordan Pratt to the district court bench in Florida, William Mercer to the district court bench in Montana, and Chad Meredith to the district court bench in Kentucky.
Mascot’s October 9 confirmation is notable for its timing: She was nominated and had her hearing months after Dunlap and Tong, but she jumped the line for confirmation so she could be seated days before Bank’s 3rd Circuit. I heard the challenge To ban assault weapons in New Jersey. And given the deeply divided makeup of the appeals court in Philadelphia, Mascot could end up casting the deciding vote to overturn New Jersey’s ban, which would create the circuit split that the Supreme Court’s Republican justices have longed to be able to take the case and further erode state-level efforts to protect their citizens from mass slaughter.
What’s next
There are four nominees for North Carolina District Court on the Senate floor awaiting confirmation. The two nominees for Louisiana District Court will likely be voted out of committee before Thanksgiving, and hearings for the three new district court nominees — Peterson, Gangi and Foulkes — will be held on November 19.
Two Mississippi District Court nominees — Robert Chamberlain and James Maxwell, both current justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court — have been stuck in committee for months following a September hearing. The exact reason has not been revealed, although it appears to be related to some disagreements within the caucus between North Carolina Senator and Judiciary Committee member Thom Tillis and Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker. Since this resistance is greater than Senate Democrats have managed so far, I will accept it.
In the past seven weeks, only three judges have announced plans to retire: Southern District of Ohio Judge Michael Watson, Minnesota District Judge Patrick Schiltz, and Eighth Circuit Judge Duane Benton, all of whom were appointed by President George W. Bush in the mid-2000s. Watson assumed the senior position on Nov. 1, and Schiltz will take over in July 2026. Benton will remain on active duty until his successor is confirmed.
No federal appeals court suffers a more pronounced partisan breakdown than the 8th Circuit: ten of the court’s 11 serving judges (and 11 of its 12 judges overall) were appointed by Republican presidents. Trump appointed four of these judges in his first term, and the American Bar Association deemed two of them “unqualified.” The opportunity for Trump to replace Benton (and perhaps others) may not reshape the court, but it could reinvigorate it and lock in the absolute Republican majority for decades to come.
You won’t find James’s narcissistic bombast, Kyle Duncan’s aggressive hostility to all things LGBT, or Lawrence VanDyke’s awkward need for attention in Benton’s opinions. But he is nonetheless a reliable conservative voice, and an important one on a court already leaning heavily to the right. Last August, Benton wrote an opinion for the entire 8th Circuit Hold on Arkansas’ ban on gender-confirming medical care for minors, based largely on the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Skremitiwhich held that a similar law in Tennessee did not impermissibly discriminate on the basis of “sex” or “transgender status.” Last summer, Benton It was considered unconstitutional Minnesota law prohibits 18- to 20-year-olds from carrying handguns in public because “the plain text of the Second Amendment contains no upper age limit,” and 18- to 20-year-olds “are unequivocally members of the people” to whom the amendment gives the right “to keep and bear arms.”
Benton is located in Missouri, giving Trump a deep well from which to draw potential alternatives. Trump has already made four appointments this term to the state’s federal district courts — Josh Devine, Maria Lanahan, Christian Stevens, and Zachary Bluestone — three of whom are 39 or younger, including Devine, who is just 35. Trump’s attorney general, Dr. John Sawyer, 50, is a former Missouri attorney general who has shown on multiple occasions that he is willing. He humiliates himself At Trump’s request. Erin Hawley, 46 and wife of Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, has spent her career opposing abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. Everyone is sure to get consideration for Benton’s seat.
Candidates and Hearings
since Final payment In this column, Trump picked five other district court nominees. In late September, Trump selected William Crane for the Eastern District of Louisiana and Alexander Van Hook for the Western District of Louisiana.
Van Hook has spent nearly all of his 25-year legal career as a federal prosecutor in Louisiana, where he was most recently acting Deputy U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. Crane is a Louisiana Supreme Court justice with a record that is troubling even for a Louisiana Supreme Court justice. He wrote an opinion hit down Executive orders related to the coronavirus are intended to limit social gatherings. He dissented when the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled He vacated a life sentence After the defendant’s attorney was found to have provided ineffective assistance. Also voted against Allowing abortion clinics To continue working temporarily after the Supreme Court opinion Dobbs v. Women’s Health Jackson He pushed the state’s “sexy” abortion ban to take effect.
On October 23, Trump also selected Aaron Peterson for the Alaska District, Nicholas Gangi for the Southern District of Texas, and David Wilkerson Folks for the Western District of Arkansas. Peterson is a state’s attorney for life. Ganji is the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, and previously served as senior counsel to Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Foulkes also serves as a federal prosecutor, currently serving as United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.
Perhaps more troubling than the candidates themselves is the secrecy surrounding their nominations. In late September, the White House sent background information on Crane and Van Hook to the Judiciary Committee. Under informal practice, the committee typically receives this information at least 28 days before a nominee’s hearing to give committee members ample time to do their due diligence. But Trump did not announce the Louisiana nominations until October 20 — just two days before the October 22 hearing. Likewise, Trump waited until yesterday – November 12 – to announce the nominations of Peterson, Gangi and Folks, although Reuters certain The Judicial Committee received the candidates’ questionnaires weeks ago.
This is highly unusual, if not unprecedented. It has become well-established practice — in previous Republican and Democratic administrations alike — for the White House to publicly announce the nominee at the same time it sends its materials to the committee, in order to give the public an opportunity to vote as well. The importance of this type of scrutiny has never been clearer: think again Everything we learned About Emil Bove’s disqualification for judicial office, for example, in the four weeks between his public nomination and the hearing. It is perhaps no coincidence that Trump stopped giving advance notice after the circus that served as Bove’s confirmation. In doing so, the White House effectively cuts the time a nominee spends under the public microscope in half.
Perhaps most troubling is that the committee’s Democrats said nothing about it. No one mentioned during Crane and Van Hook’s October 22 hearing how the public had been kept in the dark about their nominations until 48 hours before. No one objected to the deliberate erosion of another institutional base. No one alerted the White House and Republicans on the committee that Democrats knew what Trump was doing and would not let him get away with it. Then again, we’re talking about Senate Democrats, a group that has never seen a fight they couldn’t finish fast enough.
Affirmations
With little to do during the shutdown, Senate Republicans have confirmed 11 judges since October 1, including four circuit judges: Jennifer Massicot to the 3rd Circuit, Rebecca Taibelson to the 7th Circuit, Joshua Dunlap to the 1st Circuit, and Eric Tong to the 9th Circuit. Dunlap is the only one to hold the seat previously held by a Democratic appointee, and the first Trump appointee to the 1st District in either term. At the district court level, the Senate also confirmed Harold Mote, Bill Lewis, and Edmund LaCour to the district court bench in Alabama, Ann Lee Gaylord Moe and Jordan Pratt to the district court bench in Florida, William Mercer to the district court bench in Montana, and Chad Meredith to the district court bench in Kentucky.
Mascot’s October 9 confirmation is notable for its timing: She was nominated and had her hearing months after Dunlap and Tong, but she jumped the line for confirmation so she could be seated days before Bank’s 3rd Circuit. I heard the challenge To ban assault weapons in New Jersey. And given the deeply divided makeup of the appeals court in Philadelphia, Mascot could end up casting the deciding vote to overturn New Jersey’s ban, which would create the circuit split that the Supreme Court’s Republican justices have longed to be able to take the case and further erode state-level efforts to protect their citizens from mass slaughter.
What’s next
There are four nominees for North Carolina District Court on the Senate floor awaiting confirmation. The two nominees for Louisiana District Court will likely be voted out of committee before Thanksgiving, and hearings for the three new district court nominees — Peterson, Gangi and Foulkes — will be held on November 19.
Two Mississippi District Court nominees — Robert Chamberlain and James Maxwell, both current justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court — have been stuck in committee for months following a September hearing. The exact reason has not been revealed, although it appears to be related to some disagreements within the caucus between North Carolina Senator and Judiciary Committee member Thom Tillis and Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker. Since this resistance is greater than Senate Democrats have managed so far, I will accept it.
In the past seven weeks, only three judges have announced plans to retire: Southern District of Ohio Judge Michael Watson, Minnesota District Judge Patrick Schiltz, and Eighth Circuit Judge Duane Benton, all of whom were appointed by President George W. Bush in the mid-2000s. Watson assumed the senior position on Nov. 1, and Schiltz will take over in July 2026. Benton will remain on active duty until his successor is confirmed.
No federal appeals court suffers a more pronounced partisan breakdown than the 8th Circuit: ten of the court’s 11 serving judges (and 11 of its 12 judges overall) were appointed by Republican presidents. Trump appointed four of these judges in his first term, and the American Bar Association deemed two of them “unqualified.” The opportunity for Trump to replace Benton (and perhaps others) may not reshape the court, but it could reinvigorate it and lock in the absolute Republican majority for decades to come.
You won’t find James’s narcissistic bombast, Kyle Duncan’s aggressive hostility to all things LGBT, or Lawrence VanDyke’s awkward need for attention in Benton’s opinions. But he is nonetheless a reliable conservative voice, and an important one on a court already leaning heavily to the right. Last August, Benton wrote an opinion for the entire 8th Circuit Hold on Arkansas’ ban on gender-confirming medical care for minors, based largely on the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Skremitiwhich held that a similar law in Tennessee did not impermissibly discriminate on the basis of “sex” or “transgender status.” Last summer, Benton It was considered unconstitutional Minnesota law prohibits 18- to 20-year-olds from carrying handguns in public because “the plain text of the Second Amendment contains no upper age limit,” and 18- to 20-year-olds “are unequivocally members of the people” to whom the amendment gives the right “to keep and bear arms.”
Benton is located in Missouri, giving Trump a deep well from which to draw potential alternatives. Trump has already made four appointments this term to the state’s federal district courts — Josh Devine, Maria Lanahan, Christian Stevens, and Zachary Bluestone — three of whom are 39 or younger, including Devine, who is just 35. Trump’s attorney general, Dr. John Sawyer, 50, is a former Missouri attorney general who has shown on multiple occasions that he is willing. He humiliates himself At Trump’s request. Erin Hawley, 46 and wife of Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, has spent her career opposing abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. Everyone is sure to get consideration for Benton’s seat.
Candidates and Hearings
since Final payment In this column, Trump picked five other district court nominees. In late September, Trump selected William Crane for the Eastern District of Louisiana and Alexander Van Hook for the Western District of Louisiana.
Van Hook has spent nearly all of his 25-year legal career as a federal prosecutor in Louisiana, where he was most recently acting Deputy U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. Crane is a Louisiana Supreme Court justice with a record that is troubling even for a Louisiana Supreme Court justice. He wrote an opinion hit down Executive orders related to the coronavirus are intended to limit social gatherings. He dissented when the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled He vacated a life sentence After the defendant’s attorney was found to have provided ineffective assistance. Also voted against Allowing abortion clinics To continue working temporarily after the Supreme Court opinion Dobbs v. Women’s Health Jackson He pushed the state’s “sexy” abortion ban to take effect.
On October 23, Trump also selected Aaron Peterson for the Alaska District, Nicholas Gangi for the Southern District of Texas, and David Wilkerson Folks for the Western District of Arkansas. Peterson is a state’s attorney for life. Ganji is the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, and previously served as senior counsel to Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Foulkes also serves as a federal prosecutor, currently serving as United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.
Perhaps more troubling than the candidates themselves is the secrecy surrounding their nominations. In late September, the White House sent background information on Crane and Van Hook to the Judiciary Committee. Under informal practice, the committee typically receives this information at least 28 days before a nominee’s hearing to give committee members ample time to do their due diligence. But Trump did not announce the Louisiana nominations until October 20 — just two days before the October 22 hearing. Likewise, Trump waited until yesterday – November 12 – to announce the nominations of Peterson, Gangi and Folks, although Reuters certain The Judicial Committee received the candidates’ questionnaires weeks ago.
This is highly unusual, if not unprecedented. It has become well-established practice — in previous Republican and Democratic administrations alike — for the White House to publicly announce the nominee at the same time it sends its materials to the committee, in order to give the public an opportunity to vote as well. The importance of this type of scrutiny has never been clearer: think again Everything we learned About Emil Bove’s disqualification for judicial office, for example, in the four weeks between his public nomination and the hearing. It is perhaps no coincidence that Trump stopped giving advance notice after the circus that served as Bove’s confirmation. In doing so, the White House effectively cuts the time a nominee spends under the public microscope in half.
Perhaps most troubling is that the committee’s Democrats said nothing about it. No one mentioned during Crane and Van Hook’s October 22 hearing how the public had been kept in the dark about their nominations until 48 hours before. No one objected to the deliberate erosion of another institutional base. No one alerted the White House and Republicans on the committee that Democrats knew what Trump was doing and would not let him get away with it. Then again, we’re talking about Senate Democrats, a group that has never seen a fight they couldn’t finish fast enough.
Affirmations
With little to do during the shutdown, Senate Republicans have confirmed 11 judges since October 1, including four circuit judges: Jennifer Massicot to the 3rd Circuit, Rebecca Taibelson to the 7th Circuit, Joshua Dunlap to the 1st Circuit, and Eric Tong to the 9th Circuit. Dunlap is the only one to hold the seat previously held by a Democratic appointee, and the first Trump appointee to the 1st District in either term. At the district court level, the Senate also confirmed Harold Mote, Bill Lewis, and Edmund LaCour to the district court bench in Alabama, Ann Lee Gaylord Moe and Jordan Pratt to the district court bench in Florida, William Mercer to the district court bench in Montana, and Chad Meredith to the district court bench in Kentucky.
Mascot’s October 9 confirmation is notable for its timing: She was nominated and had her hearing months after Dunlap and Tong, but she jumped the line for confirmation so she could be seated days before Bank’s 3rd Circuit. I heard the challenge To ban assault weapons in New Jersey. And given the deeply divided makeup of the appeals court in Philadelphia, Mascot could end up casting the deciding vote to overturn New Jersey’s ban, which would create the circuit split that the Supreme Court’s Republican justices have longed to be able to take the case and further erode state-level efforts to protect their citizens from mass slaughter.
What’s next
There are four nominees for North Carolina District Court on the Senate floor awaiting confirmation. The two nominees for Louisiana District Court will likely be voted out of committee before Thanksgiving, and hearings for the three new district court nominees — Peterson, Gangi and Foulkes — will be held on November 19.
Two Mississippi District Court nominees — Robert Chamberlain and James Maxwell, both current justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court — have been stuck in committee for months following a September hearing. The exact reason has not been revealed, although it appears to be related to some disagreements within the caucus between North Carolina Senator and Judiciary Committee member Thom Tillis and Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker. Since this resistance is greater than Senate Democrats have managed so far, I will accept it.
