The Trump Train -- Of Federal Judicial Nominations -- Rolls On

Congratulations and good luck to the next ten judicial nominees.

Michael Brennan (via Gass Weber Mullins)

Neither snow nor rain nor D.C. heat stays the Trump administration from the swift completion of judicial nominations. The grand jury convened by special counsel Robert Mueller might be dominating conversation inside the Beltway right now, but the Russia-related drama of the past few weeks hasn’t stopped the White House from moving forward on filling the federal bench with impressive — and impressively conservative — jurists.

As I noted in a recent roundup of nomination news and rumor, when it comes to judicial appointments, the Trump administration is actually about even or possibly ahead of the Obama and Bush administrations by this point in time (depending on which metric you use). As the Washington Times noted after the Tuesday confirmation of Kevin Newsom to the Eleventh Circuit, President Trump has placed five judges on the bench (Justice Neil M. Gorusch, three circuit judges, and one district judge). This compares to zero for Obama and three for Bush by this same point in time.

And the White House shows no signs of slowing down, as reflected in last night’s ten new nominations:

The president is tapping attorney Michael B. Brennan of Wisconsin to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, a seat that has been vacant since 2010, longest in the appellate system. Mr. Brennan served for nine years as a judge on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

Mr. Trump also is nominating attorney L. Steven Grasz of Nebraska to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Mr. Grasz spent more than eleven years as Nebraska’s chief deputy attorney general.

If these names look familiar, it’s because I previously predicted them in these pages. I identified Brennan for the Wisconsin spot on the Seventh Circuit last month (along with Misha Tseytlin, a former SCOTUS clerk (Kennedy) and the current Wisconsin solicitor general; I’m not surprised the White House went with Brennan, given his much stronger Wisconsin ties and prior judicial experience). As for Steve Grasz, I first mentioned him as a possible Eighth Circuit pick back in May, and in July, I said he had the edge over two other candidates (Brian Buescher and Jonathan Papik).

Both Brennan and Grasz have strong credentials. They’ve balanced out their government service with private practice, at Gass Weber Mullins for Brennan and at Husch Blackwell for Grasz, the firms where they currently work.

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Grasz shouldn’t have any trouble getting confirmed, since he enjoys the support of Nebraska’s two Republican senators, Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse. As for Brennan, he faces a mixed slate of home-state senators: Ron Johnson, a Republican, and Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat. But Brennan’s near-decade of prior judicial service and excellent CV — Northwestern Law, clerkships for Chief Judge Robert Warren (E.D. Wisconsin) and Judge Daniel Manion (7th Cir.), service as an assistant district attorney in Milwaukee — should take him far.

Here are the eight additional judicial nominees:

The other judicial nominees are attorney Donald C. Coggins, Jr., for the District Court of South Carolina; Louisiana state Judge Terry A. Doughty to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana; attorney Michael J. Juneau of Louisiana to serve as a district judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana; attorney A. Marvin Quattlebaum, Jr., for the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina; Assistant U.S. Attorney Holly Lou Teeter of Kansas for the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas; federal magistrate Judge Robert E. Wier of Kentucky for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky; attorney Elizabeth Ann Copeland of Texas to serve as a judge on the U.S. Tax Court; and Justice Department attorney Patrick J. Urda of Indiana for the U.S. Tax Court.

And four nominees for U.S. Attorney:

The president named the following nominees for posts as federal prosecutors: District Attorney Scott C. Blader of Waushara County, Wisconsin, to serve as U.S.Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin; Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert M. Duncan, Jr. of Kentucky to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; attorney John R. Lausch Jr. of Illinois for U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney William J. Powell of Jefferson County, West Virginia, to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia.

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The prominent post in this group is U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, aka Chicago. John Lausch, currently a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, is an excellent pick. The Harvard College and Northwestern Law School grad served as an assistant U.S. attorney in that office for more than eleven years, including service in supervisory roles from 2005 to 2010.

So those are the newest nominees out of the White House. Congratulations to them on their nominations, and good luck to them in the confirmation process.

I’m already looking ahead to the next wave of names, working on a roundup post that I hope to publish later this month. If you have information to share, please reach out by email (subject line: “Judicial Nominations”) or by text message (646-820-8477, including the words “Judicial Nominations” somewhere in your text, so it will come up when I search my (clogged) inbox). Thanks!

Trump announces sixth round of conservative judicial nominees [Washington Times]
With fifth judge confirmed, Trump outpaces Obama and Bush [Washington Times via ABA Journal]
Trump nominates Steve Grasz for 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals [Omaha World-Herald]

Earlier:


DBL square headshotDavid Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at dlat@abovethelaw.com.