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Undated: Current Judicial Vacancies
This table contains a listing of current judicial vacancies by court. The name of the incumbent, the reason for the vacancy, the vacancy date, the nominee (if applicable), and the nomination date.
http://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/judicial-vacancies/current-judicial-vacancies
Undated: List of federal judges appointed by Donald Trump
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_judges_appointed_by_Donald_Trump
Undated note: Judge Judy is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by Judge Judy Sheindlin, a retired Manhattan family court judge.[2]
[Note that unlike what some Americans believe, not only is Judge Judy Sheindlin not a Federal judge, she is not on the Supreme Court, either ... she is a municipal judge ... typically addresses "violations of city ordinances and may also have jurisdiction over minor criminal cases...and over certain civil cases."]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Judy
-- 2017 --
January 29: US judge blocks deportations under Trump's Muslim ban
Ruling temporarily ends detention of travellers with valid visas and prohibits their removal from the US.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/01/trump-order-170129030842119.html
January 31: Trump Nominates Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/31/us/politics/supreme-court-nominee-trump.html
February 3: A federal judge in Seattle on Friday ordered a national halt to enforcement of President Trump’s controversial travel ban on citizens from seven predominantly Muslim nations. The White House vowed to appeal the decision immediately.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/federal-judge-in-seattle-halts-trumps-immigration-order/
February 4: President Trump launched an early morning Twitter offensive against a federal judge Saturday after U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle declared a nationwide stay on Mr. Trump’s travel ban.
The president defended his immigration order, which prohibits refugees or any citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S., in the series of tweets. He also swore that Robart’s temporary restraining order, which effectively freezes the executive order’s most controversial provisions, would be “overturned”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-tweets-on-so-called-judge-after-travel-ban-stay/
March 15: Trump's Second Travel Ban Blocked by Hawaii Judge Derrick Watson
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-judge-hawaii-blocks-trump-s-revised-travel-order-n734141
April 26: All the times Trump personally attacked judges — and why his tirades are ‘worse than wrong’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/04/26/all-the-times-trump-personally-attacked-judges-and-why-his-tirades-are-worse-than-wrong/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.44ca961855cc
April 27: Trump Vetting Extremist Judges to Fill Record Number of Empty Seats
President Donald Trump has a chance to nominate 127 federal judges to seats that are now empty. This is an astounding number of vacancies—amounting to one-seventh of the total federal judiciary and more than twice the number of vacancies that President Barack Obama inherited. The White House is vetting nominees for courts around the country, including extremist nominees from Texas for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has four vacant seats.
As with the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court, Senate leaders could even change the rules to confirm more of Trump’s nominees. Once federal judges begin retiring, Trump will have the chance to appoint even more judges.
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/courts/news/2017/04/27/431424/trump-vetting-extremist-judges-fill-record-number-empty-seats/
July 13: Trump nominates Senate Leader Mark Norris, three others as federal judges in Tennessee
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2017/07/13/trump-nominates-four-serve-federal-judges-tennessee/476802001/
July 14: Grandparents and other relatives of people living in the US cannot be barred from entering under President Trump's travel ban, a judge has ruled.
The order, by District Judge Derrick Watson in Hawaii, is a fresh legal blow to Mr Trump's immigration crackdown.
The judge said the ban had interpreted a Supreme Court ruling too narrowly.
That decision, made last month, partly reinstated the ban on refugees and travellers from six Muslim-majority countries.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40603068
August 11: President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees are ignoring key Senate Democrats as they vie for lifetime appointments to the bench, according to documents and senators — a break from longstanding practice that diminishes the minority’s power to provide a check against ideologically extreme judges.
The brewing tension between the White House and the Senate over filling an unusually high number of judicial vacancies is impeding the pace at which Trump installs lifetime appointees to the federal bench — so far one of the president’s few major victories, with his legislative agenda largely stymied in Congress.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/historians-on-trump-presidency
September 7: How Will History Judge the Trump Presidency?
Donald Trump may be a radical break from the past, but history will have its say. Six scholars of the presidency—A. Scott Berg, Robert Dallek, Jon Meacham, Edmund Morris, Stacy Schiff, and Garry Wills—put the current occupant of the Oval Office into perspective.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/historians-on-trump-presidency
October 11: Judge says US govt has 'no right to rummage' through anti-Trump protest website logs
Court tells hosting biz to protect identities of netizens
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/11/trump_protest_website_privacy_latest/
October 17: Trump’s judge picks: ‘Not qualified,’ prolific bloggers
But Republican senators still get on board.
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/17/trump-judges-nominees-court-picks-243834
October 17: Federal Judge Blocks Trump’s Third Travel Ban
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-17/trump-s-third-try-at-travel-ban-is-blocked-by-u-s-judge
October 30: In defeat for Trump, judge blocks transgender military ban
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-military-transgender/in-defeat-for-trump-judge-blocks-transgender-military-ban-idUSKBN1CZ25E
November 10: Senate Panel Votes to Make Blogger With No Trial Experience a Federal Judge
Brett J. Talley has practiced law for less than three years. He has never tried a case — or even argued a motion.
But he does write a spirited, far-right blog: Shortly after the massacre at Sandy Hook elementary, Talley described Barack Obama’s proposal to expand background checks and restrict rapid-fire weapons as “the greatest attack on our constitutional freedoms in our lifetime.” One month later, he endorsed the idea that Americans “will have to resort to arms when our other rights — of speech, press, assembly, representative government — fail to yield the desired results.” During the 2016 campaign he derided the Democratic nominee as “Hillary Rotten Clinton.”
He also went to Harvard Law School, clerked for a couple of federal judges, and made a positive impression on Alabama senator Luther Strange.
President Trump looked over this body of work, and decided the 36-year-old was qualified for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench (the American Bar Association begged to differ). On Friday, the Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to second Trump’s assessment. Now, Talley’s nomination will proceed to the Senate floor, where he is widely expected to be confirmed on a party-line vote, just like Trump’s previous judicial nominees.
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/11/senate-panel-votes-to-make-pro-gun-blogger-a-federal-judge.html
November 13: President Donald Trump is nominating white men to America’s federal courts at a rate not seen in nearly 30 years, threatening to reverse a slow transformation toward a judiciary that reflects the nation’s diversity.
So far, 91 percent of Trump’s nominees are white, and 81 percent are male, an Associated Press analysis has found. Three of every four are white men, with few African-Americans and Hispanics in the mix. The last president to nominate a similarly homogenous group was George H.W. Bush.
https://apnews.com/a2c7a89828c747ed9439f60e4a89193e
November 20: Trump order on sanctuary cities permanently blocked by federal judge
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-order-on-sanctuary-cities-permanently-blocked-by-federal-judge
December 14: President Trump outpaces Obama with 19 federal court judges confirmed
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/14/senate-confirms-trump-judge-james-ho/
December 15: Trump’s Favorite Judge
Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro embodies a kindergartener’s idea of justice. No wonder the president loves her.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2017/12/why-fox-news-jeanine-pirro-is-trumps-favorite-judge.html
December 15: Trump judicial nominee fumbles basic questions about the law
Nomination hearings for U.S. district judges tend to be dry affairs that offer little in the way of mass entertainment — in other words, they’re not typically the stuff of viral videos.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) shared footage of Matthew Petersen, a nominee for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, getting quizzed by Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) on basic aspects of trial procedure during his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
For five painfully awkward minutes, Petersen, a member of the Federal Election Commission and a lawyer with no trial experience, fumbled with Kennedy’s questions, visibly uncomfortable as the lawmaker pressed him about how things work in a federal courtroom.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/12/15/trump-judicial-nominee-fumbles-basic-questions-about-the-law/?utm_term=.2b6437c87208
December 15: President Trump Appointed Four Times as Many Federal Appeals Judges as Obama in His First Year
Trump has successfully appointed 12 so far; President Barack Obama confirmed just three in his first year, and President George W. Bush confirmed six. He beat out presidents Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, who each confirmed 11.
http://time.com/5066679/donald-trump-federal-judges-record/
December 22: In victory for Trump, judge tosses lawsuit over foreign payments to his businesses
Though other lawsuits remain pending that make similar claims, the ruling by U.S. District Judge George Daniels is the first to weigh the merits of the U.S. Constitution's anti-corruption provisions ...
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/22/in-victory-for-trump-judge-tosses-lawsuit-over-foreign-payments-to-his-businesses.html
-- 2018 --
February 27: Judge who Trump called biased for Mexican heritage sides with the president in border wall case
A judge who was taunted by Donald Trump during the presidential campaign sided with the president Tuesday on a challenge to building a border wall with Mexico, removing what could have been a major obstacle to the signature campaign pledge.
U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel rejected arguments by the state of California and advocacy groups that the administration overreached by waiving laws requiring environmental and other reviews before construction can begin. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit said a 2005 a law that gave the Homeland Security secretary broad authority to waive the reviews had expired.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-judge-trump-border-wall-20180227-story.html
March/April: These Charts Show How White, Male, and Conservative Trump’s Judicial Nominees Have Been
The administration has installed a record-breaking number of judges, reshaping the courts for decades.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/03/these-charts-show-how-white-male-and-conservative-trumps-judicial-nominees-have-been/
April 26: A federal judge orders Donald Trump to reinstate DACA
But Judge John Bates gave the administration 90 days to come up with a better reason for ending the programme
https://www.economist.com/democracy-in-america/2018/04/26/a-federal-judge-orders-donald-trump-to-reinstate-daca
June 5: In His Own Words: The President's Attacks on the Courts
Donald Trump has displayed a troubling pattern of attacking judges and the courts for rulings he disagrees with.
https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/his-own-words-presidents-attacks-courts
July 26: Legal Opinions Or Political Commentary? A New Judge Exemplifies The Trump Era
Less than a year into a lifetime appointment, a 45-year-old federal appeals court judge named James Ho may embody President Trump's most enduring legacy.
Ho has shaken up the staid world of appellate law by deploying aggressive rhetoric in cases involving guns, abortion rights and campaign finance regulations.
Today's government "would be unrecognizable to our Founders," he has written. He condemned what he called "the moral tragedy of abortion." And he's bemoaned that the Second Amendment appears to be considered a "second class right."
Critics say Ho is writing op-ed columns, not legal opinions. Friends and former colleagues said he's an intellectual engaging with ideas. And that he's just getting started.
https://www.npr.org/2018/07/26/632005799/legal-opinions-or-political-commentary-a-new-judge-exemplifies-the-trump-era
August 27: Trump administration defenders say that whatever else its accomplishments, it has reshaped the federal judiciary in a little over 18 months.
Trump’s 26 court of appeals confirmations as of late August—outpacing his predecessors at this same time in their tenures—occupy 15 percent of the nation’s circuit judgeships, and that percentage can only increase. But three countervailing factors limit the impact of those appointments
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/08/27/trump-has-reshaped-the-judiciary-but-not-as-much-as-you-might-think/
October 10: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has circulated a hotline request to vote on 15 judicial nominees, which would allow the Senate to wrap up its October session and go on recess until Election Day.
McConnell has asked colleagues to consider votes on 15 nominees with two minutes of debate equally divided on each.
If colleagues agree, the Senate will start a vote-a-thon Thursday evening and leave town until after the election.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/411043-mcconnell-moving-package-of-15-judges-to-wrap-up-october-session
October 27: Trump, Republicans Continue Remaking The Federal Courts — Even As Senate On Recess
Prior to the Trump administration, there was plenty of tit for tat in the escalating partisan wars over judicial nominations. But these tactics were aimed at blocking nominees. Since President Trump was sworn in, however, the GOP Senate leadership has moved aggressively to speed confirmation of new judges, casting aside long-existing practices and traditions that ensured some consensus in picking the judges who sit on the federal courts of appeal.
Gone, for all practical purposes, is the tradition that prevented action on a judicial nominee who was not approved by his or her home state senators. Gone is the practice of not holding a confirmation hearing until the American Bar Association has completed its professional evaluation of the nominee. Gone is the general practice of not piling up multiple nominees in one hearing. And now, for the first time, the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding confirmation hearings during a Senate recess, over the objections of the minority party.
https://www.npr.org/2018/10/27/660643999/trump-republicans-continue-remaking-the-federal-courts-even-as-senate-on-recess
November 15: Trump Is Reshaping The Judiciary. A Breakdown By Race, Gender And Qualification
https://www.npr.org/2018/11/15/667483587/trump-is-reshaping-the-judiciary-a-breakdown-by-race-gender-and-qualification
November 20: Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts offered a rebuke on Wednesday to President Trump's description of a judge who ruled against Trump's new migrant asylum policy as an "Obama judge."
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts said in a Wednesday statement provided to Fox News. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them."
Roberts added: “That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.”
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chief-justice-roberts-rebukes-trumps-obama-judge-complaint
November 29: Here’s What’s at Stake in the Fight Over Trump’s New Judges
The final days of the 2018 legislative session could impact reproductive rights for decades to come
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-judicial-appointments-759956/
December 5: Senate Judiciary Committee scraps votes on judges because of Flake
Sen. Jeff Flake's vow to block judicial nominees is significantly disrupting the Senate Judiciary Committee's plans to advance more of President Donald Trump's picks for the lower courts.
The committee's chairman, Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, scrapped a Thursday meeting, according to an announcement from the committee. A Grassley aide cited the reason as Flake not backing off his threat to vote against all pending nominees until he gets a floor vote on a bill to protect special counsels like Robert Mueller from political interference. This is the second meeting in consecutive weeks the committee has scrapped, delaying 22 nominees from floor consideration by the end of the year.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/05/politics/senate-judiciary-committee-jeff-flake/index.html
December 10: A Conservative Judge Torched Donald Trump’s Latest Illegal Assault on Immigrants
If there were any lingering doubt that Donald Trump’s latest plan to curb asylum is flatly unlawful, Judge Jay Bybee quashed it on Friday.
In a meticulous 65-page opinion, Bybee—a conservative George W. Bush appointee—explained that the president cannot rewrite a federal statute to deny asylum to immigrants who enter the country without authorization. His decision for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a twofold rebuke to Trump, halting the president’s legal assault on asylum-seekers and undermining his claim that any judge who blocked the order is a Democratic hack.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/12/bush-judge-rejects-trump-asylum-plan.html
December 10: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor echoed Chief Justice John Roberts’ condemnation of President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on the judiciary in a recent public appearance.
Sotomayor told an audience Friday at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh that the justices do not belong to a political cause or a president but “to something very different, and much more important to us, and that is to the rule of law.”
https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/10/sotomayor-rebuke-donald-trump/
December 15: A federal judge in Texas said on Friday that the Affordable Care Act's individual coverage mandate is unconstitutional and that the rest of the law therefore cannot stand.
The ruling and expected appeal sets up another cliffhanger in which the fate of the law, which Republicans have unsuccessfully tried to repeal for years, will likely once again ultimately lie with the Supreme Court.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/14/politics/texas-aca-lawsuit/index.html
December 16: Chuck Schumer Urges Congressional Vote Rejecting Obamacare Ruling
“If a majority of the House and a majority of the Senate say that this case should be overturned, it’ll have a tremendous effect on the appeal,” Schumer said.https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obamacare-decision-chuck-schumer_us_5c16602de4b05d7e5d82f100
December 16: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Draws Sold-Out Audience In New York
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ruth-bader-ginsburg-draws-sold-out-audience-in-new-york_us_5c15e44fe4b049efa752ebd0
December 19: Federal judge strikes down Trump asylum rules for domestic and gang violence victims
In a ruling Wednesday, Judge Emmet Sullivan struck down large portions of Justice Department policies that made it harder for immigrants to claim asylum.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/federal-judge-strikes-down-trump-asylum-rules-domestic-gang-violence-n949936
-- 2019 --
January 14: A federal judge in Pennsylvania has blocked the Trump administration from implementing a rule allowing employers to decline to offer contraceptive coverage on moral or religious grounds.
U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone in Philadelphia imposed a nationwide injunction Monday which has wider effect than a similar ruling issued Sunday by a federal judge in California.
The policy was set to go into effect nationwide Monday. But U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. blocked the Trump administration's bid to greatly expand the number of employers that could claim the exemption from the health care law.
He put the rule on hold for 13 states and the District of Columbia, which challenged the rule in court.
In her ruling, Judge Beetlestone said states would be harmed by the Trump administration's policy because women who lost contraceptive coverage would seek state-funded services.
The Affordable Care Act requires most companies to offer employees health insurance that covers FDA-approved birth control at no cost. But Trump has long promised employers that he would "vigorously" protect their rights to religious freedom. So the Trump administration developed rules to make it easier for more employers to opt out of the ACA requirement.
https://www.npr.org/2019/01/14/685037779/judge-blocks-trump-birth-control-policy-in-13-states-and-d-c
-- 2020 --
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