Jesus Osete is reportedly on a list of people interviewing for the Eighth Circuit (Missouri) seat. Among other roles, he previously served as Missouri’s deputy solicitor general.

To the man snoring loudly on my Acela train: I admire your bravery. I do not sleep on trains because I fear this would be me.

Wrote seven stories this week! Published a big judicial diversity analysis, covered a hearing, previewed the week, recapped the year, and more. Gained 18 subscribers (which is a lot for me). Take a look & consider subscribing to stay up to date on judicial nominations! nominationnotes.substack.com

Wrote seven stories this week! Published a big judicial diversity analysis, covered a hearing, previewed the week, recapped the year, and more. Gained 18 subscribers (which is a lot for me). Take a look & consider subscribing to stay up to date on judicial nominations! nominationnotes.substack.com

"So far, they’ve decided that allowing a doddering, warmongering fraudster to appoint their replacement is not the judicial legacy they want to leave." @profjpc.bsky.social on federal judges largely not retiring at the moment. ballsandstrikes.org/nominations/...

Terrific piece by @patrickryne.bsky.social looking at Trump's terrible judicial nominations in 2025 and setting the stage for the fight for fair courts in 2026. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/civil-righ...

Today's Wordle was perhaps the most difficult and annoying Wordle I've encountered in the more than 1,200 Wordles I've Wordled.

Here's my look at what happened this year on judicial nominations, with insight from @nwlc.org, @peoplefor.bsky.social, and @lambdalegal.org — who all remain deeply committed to the work ahead to ensure a fair federal judiciary. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/civil-righ...

Trump ends the year with 26 lifetime judicial confirmations. Nearly 90 percent are white and nearly three quarters are men. He has eight more nominees pending on the floor and in committee. Of those eight, seven are white and seven are men (six are white men). Huge setback for judicial diversity.

Interesting. Cloture was invoked tonight on Alexander Van Hook's nomination, so he should receive a confirmation vote the first week of January. Of the other judicial nominees on the floor, sounds like Fowlkes will remain pending on the floor but Peterson and Ganjei will need to be marked up again.

Too many Democrats are voting in favor of Trump's judicial nominees.

ICYMI: Trump has appointed more white district court judges in 16 states than lifetime judges of color who have EVER served in those states. In six other states, he's appointed the same number of white judges as judges of color who have served there. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/in-many-st...

There are 21 district courts — nearly a quarter of all district courts — where a lifetime judge of color has never served, and there are 41 district courts (nearly half) where a woman of color has never served as a lifetime judge. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/in-many-st...

Cloture has been filed on one lifetime judicial nominee, Alexander Van Hook of Louisiana, who will be the 27th lifetime judge confirmed during Trump's second term (and his 261st overall). We'll see if he's confirmed today or next year.

Attacks on trans youth are coming from all angles. Trump appointed Whitney Hermandorfer, who sat second chair at SCOTUS for Skrmetti arguments, to the 6th Circuit. Yesterday, Judiciary Committee considered one of Riley Gaines’ lawyers for a lifetime judgeship. LOTS of anti-trans judicial nominees.

NEW ANALYSIS: Trump has appointed more white district court judges in 16 states than lifetime judges of color who have EVER served in those states. In six other states, he's appointed the same number of white judges as judges of color who've served there. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/in-many-st...

Today is the 2-month anniversary of my Substack, and I'm SO close to 100 subscribers (need 5 more!). I'll keep you updated on judicial nominees, report on interesting things I find in their written questions & elsewhere, watch the hearings so you don't have to, and more! nominationnotes.substack.com

This is the man who's nominating LIFETIME federal judges. Very fun!

Today is the 2-month anniversary of my Substack, and I'm SO close to 100 subscribers (need 5 more!). I'll keep you updated on judicial nominees, report on interesting things I find in their written questions & elsewhere, watch the hearings so you don't have to, and more! nominationnotes.substack.com

Getting rid of disparate impact liability under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act would mean cutting millions of people of color off from recourse for anything but the most obvious and explicit discrimination ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...

A reminder that Erin Hawley wants the Missouri seat on the 8th Circuit that recently opened up when Judge Duane Benton took senior status. No thank you!

Kennedy asked Justin Olson if he said God “has called wives to be subject to their husbands” & “serve the good of your husband & support his calling.” Said he was quoting a passage & they weren’t his words. Kennedy: "You said them. Do you believe them?” Olson: "I believe every word of the Bible.”

NEW: Three more of Trump's lifetime judicial nominees appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, with Indiana nominee Justin Olson telling Senator Kennedy: "I believe every word of the Bible." Here are the highlights from today's hearing: nominationnotes.substack.com/p/judicial-n...

I'm glad that Senator @blumenthal.senate.gov asked all three judicial nominees LIVE at the hearing about who won the 2020 election and whether the U.S. Capitol was attacked on January 6, 2021. Watching them squirm and refuse to answer basic questions is an astonishing thing to see on your screen.

WOW. Senator Kennedy asked judicial nominee Justin Olson about things he's said in sermons, including that “Transgenderism, homosexuality, fornication, & all sorts of sexual perversions” were forms of hypocrisy from "shame on the inside." Basically was like, yeah that sounds like something I'd say.

Another diverse panel of nominees testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning.

In their introductions of Brian Lea this morning, Senators Hagerty and Blackburn did not mention any legal experience that Lea has in Tennessee, where he's been nominated to the federal bench. That's because he has none, as I reported yesterday. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/trump-nomi...

Brian Lea has never practiced in Tennessee, but he has been nominated for a lifetime judgeship in the state. He will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow morning — and this must be examined. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/trump-nomi...

I'm a little surprised. Unless the Senate is planning to stay in session until (at least) Friday, Trump will likely only reach, at most, 27 lifetime judges this year. He was on pace to reach 30, but cloture has not yet been filed on three of the four pending judicial nominees.

"While sitting in the crowd as Trump urged the deportation of one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, Emil Bove knew that his own rise to the judiciary was due to that same hate — to the lies & the anti-Muslim vitriol that tore down Adeel Mangi’s historic nomination. And he smirked."

cc: @thetnholler.bsky.social

See, e.g., Jennifer Mascott

Up for a lifetime judgeship in Tennessee … and never practiced there.

NEW: Trump nominated Brian Lea for a judgeship in Tennessee, but Lea has no legal experience in the state. He was just admitted to the bar in Tennessee & admitted to practice in the Western District of TN this year. His confirmation hearing is tomorrow. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/trump-nomi...

One year ago, Third Circuit nominee Adeel Mangi wrote to Biden — calling out the smear campaign against him and recognizing that there was no longer a pathway to his confirmation as the first Muslim federal appellate judge. Now we have Emil Bove instead. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/before-emi...

This is incredible news. Today, Virginia officials will unveil a statue of Barbara Johns at the Capitol to replace one of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that had stood for more than a century. www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

The Senate is set to confirm Alexander Van Hook to the federal bench in Louisiana later this week. Van Hook will be Trump’s tenth white appointee to a district court in Louisiana — a state where only eight lifetime judges of color have ever served. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/louisiana-...

NEW: Leader Thune just filed cloture on the nomination of Alexander Van Hook to serve on the Western District of Louisiana, in addition to three executive nominations. Cloture and confirmation votes on these nominees can begin on Wednesday. Three other judicial nominees remain pending on the floor.

Senators are scheduled to leave for the holidays once they conclude their business this week. What that business will include — at least with respect to judicial nominations — remains unclear. New nominees? More confirmations? I lay it all out here: nominationnotes.substack.com/p/what-we-kn...

And he is appointing federal judges to serve for LIFE.

Senators are scheduled to leave for the holidays once they conclude their business this week. What that business will include — at least with respect to judicial nominations — remains unclear. New nominees? More confirmations? I lay it all out here: nominationnotes.substack.com/p/what-we-kn...

Lots planned for my Substack — nomination notes — this week. Please consider subscribing! I'm almost at my first 100 subscribers, which I hope to hit by the end of the year <3 nominationnotes.substack.com

Successfully bullied @tomwright.bsky.social into subscribing to my Substack at happy hour tonight. Pleased.

That enough Democratic senators couldn’t muster the courage to vote for the nation’s first Muslim federal appellate judge — and instead allowed Trump to fill the vacancy with Emil Bove — is just so shameful. Adeel Mangi should be there.

Breaking: Indiana State Senate rejects 9-0 Republican gerrymandered congressional map, stands up to Trump’s pressure campaign of threats and intimidation. Huge victory for democracy & defeat for Trump in gerrymandering war he started

As I noted in my coverage of this morning's markup, @wedemandjustice.bsky.social is indeed not pleased with two of the three judicial nominees receiving bipartisan support! nominationnotes.substack.com/p/senate-jud...

Tommy Tuberville couldn't let the Senate adjourn for the week without first delivering an anti-Muslim, hate-filled, racist floor speech. A truly terrible person who has no business being a senator.

Several cloture filings by Senate Majority Leader John Thune just now, but none on judicial nominations. If he doesn't come back and file more, there will be no more lifetime judges confirmed until at least next Wednesday. Four nominees remain pending on the floor following this morning's markup.

NEW in Nomination Notes: The Senate Judiciary Committee just advanced three more of Trump's lifetime judicial nominees — two with bipartisan support. If all pending nominees are confirmed by next week, Trump will hit 30 lifetime confirmations this year. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/senate-jud...

NEW: Senate Judiciary Committee advanced three more lifetime judicial nominees — Nick Ganjei for the Southern District of Texas, Clay Fowlkes for the Western District of Arkansas, and Aaron Peterson for the District of Alaska. Fowlkes and Peterson received bipartisan support. Ganjei was party line.