Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
President begins to pack courts with conservatives
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration named the first slate of judges it plans to nominate for key posts Monday as President Donald Trump works to pack the nation’s federal courts with more conservative voices.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that among the candidates are individuals previously named on Trump’s list of 21 possible picks for Supreme Court justice.
The announcement comes less than a month after Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, was confirmed as justice to the nation’s highest court, restoring the court’s conservative tilt.
Trump will nominate judges John K. Bush of Kentucky and Joan Larsen of Michigan for the bench of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras will be nominated for the 8th Circuit.
Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana will be nominated to serve on the 7th Circuit. Kevin Newsom of Alabama will be nominated as a judge on the 11th Circuit.
Also to be nominated for federal court positions are David Nye of Idaho, Scott L. Palk of Oklahoma and Damien M. Schiff of California. The president will also nominate two people for federal judgeships: Dabney L. Friedrich of Washington, D.C., and Terry F. Moorer of Alabama.
While appeals courts tends to have a lower public profile, their role in adjudicating many of the orders and laws put forth by the administration will be significant.
Trump’s earliest efforts to implement his agenda were dramatically derailed by the courts, which pushed back against his proposed travel ban and his order to withhold funding from “sanctuary cities” that limit cooperation with immigration authorities.
After the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his immigration ban, Trump tweeted last February “SEE YOU IN COURT!”
The administration vowed that it would reappeal the ruling and either revise its original executive order or write a new one from scratch.
But while a revised ban was later released, that too was blocked by the courts.
Trump said last month that he is considering breaking up the 9th Circuit, a federal appeals court that covers Western states and which has long been a target of Republicans.
It would take congressional action to break up the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Republicans have introduced bills this year to do just that.
Larsen, a former professor at the University of Michigan law school, has served on the Michigan Supreme Court bench since November 2015.
She was a law clerk to the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative giant on the court. She also served in the U.S. Justice Department when George W. Bush was president.