Trump Readies to Name ‘fearless’ Conservative Judges in Second Term; Second Trump Term Opens Door to Even More Conservative Judges; Trump Could Bolster US Supreme Court’s Conservative Majority

Trump readies to name ‘fearless’ conservative judges in second term

Republican President-elect Donald Trump is poised to build on his legacy of reshaping the federal judiciary with nominees who his allies and opponents predict could be even more conservative than the near-record 234 judges he put on the bench in his first stint in office.

With Republicans set to take back control of the Senate, which must confirm judicial nominees, Trump should enjoy an easy path to filling possible vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court and the expected 100-plus seats that will likely open up on lower courts across the nation.

“Trump remade the federal judiciary in his first term, and now he has the opportunity to cement that vision for an entire generation,” John Collins, a professor at George Washington University Law School, said in an email.

A new round of Trump-appointed, life-tenured judges would result in a more conservative federal judiciary that would be more likely to cast a skeptical eye on environmental, financial and other regulations and to uphold Trump’s agenda in the face of legal challenges.

Representatives for Trump did not respond to a request for comment.

During his first four years in office, Trump’s 234 judicial appointments included three U.S. Supreme Court justices, giving the high court its 6-3 conservative majority, and 54 judges named to 13 intermediate appeals courts. It marked the second-most judicial appointments of any president in a single term.

Those appointments shifted the judiciary to the right, with Republican appointees today making up half of all active appellate judges and having majorities on six circuit courts. Many had connections to the influential conservative legal group the Federalist Society and remain active with the organization.

Those judges often embrace “originalism,” a legal philosophy that seeks to interpret the U.S. Constitution based on the text as understood at the time of its drafting in the 18th century. —>READ MORE HERE

Second Trump Term Opens Door to Even More Conservative Judges:

Donald Trump is expected to seek out a different kind of judicial nominee during his second term.

The incoming president will rely less heavily on establishment Federalist Society conservatives as he seeks judges who will rule in his favor. He appointed 234 judges in his first term, a significant achievement for Republicans, but some proved a disappointment to Trump after blocking efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Prospective nominees include solicitors general who’ve opposed Biden policies in court, and trial judges who’ve ruled for conservative litigants. Further remaking the judiciary will require an older and more moderate generation of Republican-appointed judges to step aside since Trump returns with less than half of the judicial vacancies than he started with in 2017.

“It’s a good time to let a younger, more bold, more fearless conservative judge take your place,” said Mike Davis, a former Senate Republican aide who now runs a conservative legal group, the Article III Project.

Bold, Fearless

Trump hasn’t shied away from criticizing judges who’ve ruled against him or his administration, and recently suggested that those critical of judges who do rule in his favor should face penalties.

Those who could be elevated include US District Judge Aileen Cannon on the South District of Florida. Trump has praised her for dismissing the 40 criminal counts against him related to his handling of classified materials after he left office.

Others include US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas, who invalidated the FDA’s 2000 approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, and Fifth Circuit Judge James Ho, who called abortion a “moral tragedy.”

“There are appointments of the president who have really become stars on the bench, and from the perspective of the people who’ll be advising and choosing, are probably held in very high regard,” said Jesse Panuccio, the Justice Department’s former acting associate attorney general under Trump and current partner at Boies Schiller Flexner.

“You would imagine that there’ll be an effort to find more appointees who are like them,” he said.

Lawyers in Republican state attorneys general offices and at smaller boutique firms like Consovoy McCarthy who’ve challenged Biden policies will top Trump’s list, said Robert Luther III, a former Trump White House lawyer who prepared judicial nominees for Senate hearings. —>READ MORE HERE

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