Free Republic

President Donald Trump announced late on Thursday his first judicial nomination since returning to the White House as he moved to appoint a lawyer serving under Tennessee's Republican attorney general to a seat on a federal appeals court. Trump .. is nominating Whitney Hermandorfer, who has clerked for three members of the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority, to fill a vacancy on the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. ... Whitney is a Fighter who will inspire confidence in our Legal System," Trump wrote .. The nomination was the first of what is expected to be more than 100...

At the start of Trump-47, on January 20, 2025, there were 45 federal judicial vacancies—all were Article III vacancies. There are now 60 federal judicial vacancies, including: 59 Article III positions, and one Article I position (United States District Court for the District of the Virgin Islands). There are 874 authorized Article III federal judicial positions, with 59 Article III vacancies, amounting to a 7% vacancy rate. To date, Trump-47 has sent ZERO nominations to fill vacant federal judicial positions to the U.S. Senate.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) signals to Senate Democrats to confirm as many judges as they can before they are out of power. Warren said, “Donald Trump is telling us what the criteria is for every one of these jobs and its complete loyalty to Donald Trump, not experience, not qualifications we would ordinarily consider, not how good you would be at this work, not loyalty to the people of United States or the Constitution. It’s absolute loyalty to Donald Trump. He’s making this clear...