Trump Names Three More Judges as Senate Republicans Race the January Clock to Confirm Them

Federal judges serve for life. Senate majorities don’t. That’s the whole story of what’s happening in Washington this month, and on Tuesday the race got a lot more serious.

President Trump named three more picks for the federal bench in a string of Truth Social posts, two in Texas and one in South Carolina. The same day, the Senate Judiciary Committee sent four judges to the full Senate, set up votes on six more and held a hearing for another four, the Washington Sun reported. Republicans run the Senate until January. After that, Democrats do, and the math on judges changes overnight.

Trump made the stakes plain on Monday. “Very important for the U.S. Senate to confirm all of our pending 161 Nominations, including 25 Federal Judges,” he wrote.

Three new names

The South Carolina pick is Grayson Lambert, now chief legal counsel to Gov. Henry McMaster. Trump wrote that Lambert was a partner at “a respected law firm,” clerked for Judge Dennis Shedd of the Fourth Circuit appeals court and graduated from the University of Virginia and Duke’s law school. “Grayson will be an excellent addition to the Federal Bench in South Carolina,” Trump said.

In Texas, Trump tapped Elliot Gaiser for the federal court in Dallas. Gaiser is 37 and runs the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, the in-house shop that tells the White House whether what it wants to do is legal. The Daily Signal reported that he was Ohio’s solicitor general before that, and clerked for Justice Samuel Alito when Alito wrote the opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade. Per The Washington Post, as cited by the Daily Signal, Gaiser’s office signed off on the capture of Nicolás Maduro and the strikes on drug boats. “Texas will appreciate having such a talented and intelligent Judge on their Federal Bench,” Trump said.

The other Texas pick is James Sullivan, a former Texas Supreme Court justice who lost his race to stay on that court last week. Trump wasn’t bothered. “Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn highly recommend him!” he wrote. Cornyn backed that up on 𝕏 after Tuesday’s committee meeting: “An election result does not diminish a record of ability and integrity. He should be confirmed.”

Gaiser’s path was a little bumpier. According to the Washington Sun, Cornyn had reportedly said Gaiser didn’t go through the “usual process” Texas uses to pick judges. Gaiser’s own paperwork says Cruz’s staff reached out the day after the election, and he talked with Cornyn’s staff and the White House on Nov. 6.

Grassley isn’t slowing down

Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa said he plans to move as fast as he can, and pointed out there’s no committee rule against speed. He also turned the complaint around on the other side, accusing Democrats of “unprecedented levels of obstruction to stall” Trump’s nominees.

“Considering judicial nominations is some of the most important work that this committee does,” Grassley said. “As chairman, it’s been my priority to ensure that the federal benches are filled with judges who will uphold our constitutional rule of law.”

Democrats are not happy about it. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the committee’s top Democrat, accused Republicans of trying to jam picks onto the Texas bench before Sen.-elect James Talarico, a Democrat, is sworn in on Jan. 3 and gets a say. “The defeat of the Republicans in Texas has created a scramble for lifetime appointments to the federal bench,” Durbin said. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey told the Sun that “the people of Texas have spoken.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut went further, calling some of the picks politically “compromised.”

Here’s the thing, though. Filling open seats while you hold the Senate isn’t breaking a rule. It’s the job. A White House official told the Daily Signal, “We expect all of our highly qualified nominees to be confirmed quickly this Congress.”

The little blue slip that could block everything

The reason Texas and South Carolina matter so much comes down to an old Senate custom called the blue slip. Before a district court nominee moves forward, both home-state senators get to sign off. If one of them says no, the chairman can stop the nomination cold.

Trump has asked Majority Leader John Thune to scrap the practice, calling it “old and outdated.” Thune said no, explaining there are “more Republican senators who are interested in preserving that than those who aren’t.” Just the News reported that, with Republicans keeping the blue slip, filling seats in those two states after January will need a Democratic senator’s help for the next six years.

That’s why conservatives want every seat filled now. “It’s important to fill every available vacancy while the Senate Republicans are still in power,” Zack Smith, a legal expert at The Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Signal. “One of President Trump’s signature accomplishments is the way he has transformed the federal courts.”

A snag inside the GOP

Not every hold-up is coming from Democrats. The Daily Signal reported that Arkansas’ two Republican senators, John Boozman and Tom Cotton, reportedly oppose Trump’s pick of Lee Rudofsky for the Eighth Circuit appeals court and would rather have Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Cody Hiland. Rudofsky’s name was pushed to a later meeting on Tuesday. Confirming him would give Trump appointees a majority on that court. Mike Davis of the Article III Project warned that if it slips, “Republicans will lose this seat.”

Others are moving. Anna St. John, Trump’s pick for a federal court in Louisiana, has already cleared the committee. Trump praised her record on “Religious Liberty, Free Speech, and protecting Women’s Sports.”

Even Cornyn admits the clock is tight. Asked whether Republicans can get all of Trump’s nominees through in time, he told the Sun, “That’s going to be very hard. But I think we ought to get as many people as we can.”

Trump, for his part, said Monday he likes Thune and calls him “a very fine man,” but wishes the Senate would get more done. “I like John Thune. I wish they could get more produced,” he said. Every judge confirmed between now and January sits on the bench long after this Senate is gone. That’s why this fight is worth watching on the Senate floor over the next few weeks.