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Who may be on Trump’s Supreme Court short list? Senate win aids judicial picks

By Debra Cassens Weiss

November 6, 2024, 3:12 pm CST

President-elect Donald Trump could get a chance to appoint two U.S. Supreme Court justices if Justice Clarence Thomas, 76, and Justice Samuel Alito, 74, decide to retire.

“With two more appointees,” Law360 reports, “Trump could single-handedly cement the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority for decades to come.”

These judges and lawyers are potential nominees, according to Law360, an op-ed in the New York Times by the editor of a liberal blog, Fox News and a Bloomberg Law story on potential Asian American and Pacific Islander picks.

  • Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. He is the former general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. He was in the news in January 2020 for an opinion in which he refused to refer to a transgender inmate by her preferred female pronouns. (Law360, Fox News, the New York Times)

  • Judge Andrew S. Oldham, the 5th Circuit at New Orleans. He is former general counsel for Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbot. (Law360, Fox News)

  • Judge James C. Ho, the 5th Circuit at New Orleans. He is a former Texas solicitor general. In 2022, he said he won’t be hiring future Yale Law School grads as clerks because the university cancels conservative views. (Law360, Fox News, the New York Times, Bloomberg Law)

  • Judge Amul Thapar, the 6th Circuit at Cincinnati. He is a former Williams & Connolly lawyer. He has suggested that conservatives withhold donations to law schools that don’t teach originalism. (Law360, Fox News, Bloomberg Law)

  • Judge Joan Larsen, the 6th Circuit at Cincinnati. She was formerly a Michigan Supreme Court justice. (Fox News)

  • Judge Gregory G. Katsas, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He is a former Jones Day lawyer and a former deputy counsel in the Trump White House. (Law360, Fox News)

  • Judge Neomi Rao, the D.C. Circuit. She was the administrator for the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Trump administration. (Fox News, Bloomberg Law)

  • Judge Lawrence VanDyke, the 9th Circuit at San Francisco. He is a former Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher lawyer and a former solicitor general in Nevada and Montana. He received a “not qualified” rating by the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which cited an “entitlement temperament.” (Law360, Fox News, the New York Times)

  • Judge Patrick Bumatay, the 9th Circuit at San Francisco. He was the first openly gay judge to serve on the 9th Circuit. (Bloomberg Law)

  • Judge Kenneth Lee, the 9th Circuit at San Francisco. He wrote an opinion finding that a ban on gun advertising that appeals to minors was likely unconstitutional. (Bloomberg Law)

  • Judge Barbara Lagoa, the 11th Circuit at Atlanta. She is a former Florida Supreme Court justice and former Greenberg Traurig lawyer. (Fox News)

  • Judge Britt Grant, the 11th Circuit at Atlanta. She is a former Georgia Supreme Court justice. (Fox News)

  • Judge Kevin Newsom, the 11th Circuit at Atlanta. He was formerly the Alabama solicitor general. (Fox News)

  • Judge Michael Park, the 2nd Circuit at New York. He formerly was a lawyer at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr; Dechert; and Consovoy McCarthy Park. (Bloomberg Law)

  • Judge David Stras, the 8th Circuit St. Louis. He is a former Minnesota Supreme Court justice. (Fox News)

  • Judge Allison Jones Rushing, the 4th Circuit at Richmond, Virginia. She was a Williams & Connolly lawyer. (Fox News)

  • Kate Comerford Todd, a former deputy counsel in the Trump White House. (Fox News)

  • U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, the Southern District of Florida. She dismissed the classified documents case against Trump. (Law360)

  • U.S. District Judge Patrick Wyrick, the Western District of Oklahoma. He was formerly an Oklahoma Supreme Court justice. (Fox News)

  • Kristen Waggoner, CEO and general counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom. (Law360, Fox News, the New York Times)

  • Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas. (Fox News)

  • Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah. (Fox News)

  • Morse Tan, the former dean of the Liberty University School of Law, who is now the senior executive director of Liberty University’s Center for Law & Government. (Bloomberg Law, the New York Times)

  • Former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Martin, founding dean of High Point University’s law school. (The New York Times)

Confirmation of Trump’s judicial nominees will be easier when Republicans take control of the U.S. Senate, Law360 reports.

Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa intends to reclaim his position as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee that will consider Trump’s choices, a Grassley spokesperson told Law360.

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Judiciary

Who made the National Judicial College’s list of ’60 Courageous Judges’?

By Amanda Robert

December 21, 2023, 9:00 am CST

The National Judicial College marked its 60th anniversary this week by releasing a list of 60 judges from around the United States and the world who have demonstrated courage, upheld the rule of law and provided justice for all.

“We hope this list raises people’s awareness of and appreciation for the thousands of steadfast judges who keep the promise of equal justice under law every day, including those days when it would be more popular or convenient for them to do something else,” said Benes Z. Aldana, president of the National Judicial College, in a Dec. 18 news release.

The list of “60 Courageous Judges” was first unveiled at the National Judicial College’s 60th anniversary celebration in Las Vegas on Dec. 7. The list includes Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr., a federal judge who was on three-judge panels that issued decisions desegregating Montgomery, Alabama, buses in Browder v. Gayle (1956) and desegregated schools in Lee v. Macon County Board of Education (1967).

Johnson had crosses burned on his front lawn and needed around-the-clock protection from federal marshals for about 15 years, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama. His mother’s house was also bombed.

In addition to other historical figures, it also highlights lesser-known judges who have adhered to the law, despite political pressure and personal attacks. When compiling the list, the National Judicial College accepted nominations from its alumni, faculty and staff. Aldana and other members of an internal committee made the final selections.

Along with Johnson, the 60 honorees include:

  • Judge Adrianne N. Heely Caires, a Hawaii family court judge. She was evacuated during this year’s unprecedented wildfires in Hawaii but continued to work to help children and families. She ensured that foster children were safe by finding many of them new shelters and medical care.

  • Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of Travis County, Texas. She presided over the trial that arose after conspiracy theorist and Infowars host Alex Jones accused the parents of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut of a hoax. She experienced harassment and received threats for her rulings against Jones.

  • Judge Roy J. Manfredi, a New Mexico municipal court judge. He continued to perform all marriages after every other judge in Colfax County, New Mexico, did the opposite to protest the law that made same-sex marriages legal in New Mexico in 2013.

  • Judge Esther Salas of the District of New Jersey. She survived a gunman’s 2020 attack on her home. Salas, whose son was killed and husband was wounded, is working to pass legislation that better protects the privacy of judges.

  • Judge Genevieve Woody, a Navajo Nation tribal court district judge in Shiprock, New Mexico. She determined that a fellow Navajo Nation judge was guilty of abusing his office in 2016. She ordered him to forfeit his position.

To view the complete list of courageous judges, visit the National Judicial College’s website.