Summary
- The Senate confirmed the last of Trump's four St. Louis nominees Tuesday.
- Judges have strong conservative backgrounds and GOP ties.
- Judge Maria Lanahan confirmed 52-45, key abortion ban litigants.
- Missouri's Eastern District is now a conservative judicial stronghold.
Maria Lanahan, the chief deputy solicitor general in the Missouri attorney general's office, was confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate on a 52-45 vote to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
She had defended Missouri's draconian abortion restriction against a judicial challenge while working in the attorney general's office, and she had assisted in the ongoing litigation to limit access to the abortion drug mifepristone.
The Senate's support for Lanahan was the result of years of work by Missouri's Republican senators, Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt, to move Missouri's Eastern District to the right in terms of ideology.
When four judges appointed by Democratic presidents announced plans to retire or leave active service, those senators supported Trump's selection of four conservative candidates as his first trial court picks of his second term in May. The appointments were made to fill vacancies that had arisen during the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden.
In a recent interview, Schmitt stated that shortly after Trump's victory in the November presidential election, he started discussing with his new staff that "there's a real pipeline that's been developed of good young conservative lawyers that could fill these spots."
When they were appointed, Schmitt stated
"the Eastern District of Missouri would quite possibly be the best jurisdiction in the country if you care about judges who want to interpret the law as it's written, not how they want it to be."
They include Cristian Stevens, Zach Bluestone, and Josh Divine, who are currently U.S. District Judges. Lanaham will take up a position that was previously occupied by Ronnie White, a former U.S. District Judge who was appointed by former Democratic President Barack Obama. In July, White took a leave of absence.
Lanahan had served under Divine, the state's solicitor general at the time, in the attorney general's office. They collaborated on an ongoing lawsuit in Texas brought by a number of Republican-led states to block the sale of the abortion drug mifepristone, which has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
How do Trump's judicial nominees compare to previous administrations?
During his first term (2017-2021), Trump confirmed 234 federal judges to lifetime positions, including three Supreme Court justices and 54 appellate judges. This number was extraordinary for a single term but still less than the total judges confirmed by two-term presidents like Obama and George W. Bush.
Trump benefited from a large number of judicial vacancies when he took office, partly due to Republican opposition to President Obama’s nominees. His second term is expected to see fewer vacancies to fill.
Trump’s nominees have been assessed as having strong legal credentials overall. About 40% of his appellate nominees clerked for a Supreme Court justice, and around 80% clerked at the federal appellate level, higher than comparable figures for Obama’s nominees, indicating a very strong professional pedigree.