Thursday, April 30, 2026

May 2026 Judiciary News

Nominations, Hearings, Confirmations:

Red states:  There are still 14 vacant district court seats without nominees in red states (two R senators), including five in Texas, two in OK, and one each in AL, AK, FL, LA, NC, OH, and TN.  

Senate:  Michael Fragoso gives an update on the Senate calendar, arguing that the time to confirm judges this year is rapidly disappearing.

Retirement:  Michael Fragoso argues that conservative judges should retire when there is a good change that a conservative successor can be confirmed.

Nominees:  President Trump has nominated several lawyers who have defended him personally to federal judgeships.  These include Emil Bove (3rd Circuit), Justin Smith (8th Circuit nominee), and Matthew Schwartz (2nd Circuit nominee).

6th Circuit:  President Trump nominated Benjamin Flowers for the 6th Circuit.  He clerked for Sandra Ikuta (9th Circuit) and Justice Scalia.  He was Solicitor General of Ohio 2019-2023.

D-MT:  D senators criticized nominee Katie Smithgall Lane for having a short resume, and the ABA declared her "Not Qualified".  Michael Fragoso argues that their criticisms are misguided.

Nominations:
TBD

The Federal Judiciary:

Trump:  President Trump ranted against the Supreme Court, making several baseless allegations.

5th Circuit:  Judge E. Grady Jolly died on March 16 at age 88.  He was appointed to the 5th Circuit in 1982 by Reagan.  He took senior status in 2017, which he maintained until his death.

WD-TX:  Judge Alan Albright is retiring from WD-TX.  He is not eligible for senior status.  He was controversial due to his handling of patent cases.

ED-MI:  Judge Thomas Ludington pled no contest to operating while intoxicated after he crashed his car due to being 'super drunk' last fall.  He faces sentencing on May 13, and faces a misconduct complaint.

Vacancy Declarations:  There are now 44 current and future judicial vacancies.  New vacancies over the past two months are listed below.
MD-NC: William Osteen Jr. (W) 1/2/27 (senior)
8th Circuit: Ralph Erickson (Trump) TBD (senior)
WD-TX: Alan Albright (Trump) 8/2026 (retired)

State Supreme Courts:

Arkansas:  Two seats were up for election on March 3.
Position 3: Justice Nick Bronni (R) won 55-45 over John Adams.
Position 6: Justice Cody Hiland (R) was unopposed.

Hawaii:  Governor Josh Green nominated Justice Vladimir Devens to be Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the court by Green in 2024.  He was one of five applicants for the position of Chief Justice vacated by Mark Recktenwald on October 8.  His nomination passed committee 3-2 due to not disclosing his involvement with a political action committee.

Idaho:  Chief Justice G. Richard Bevan, will retire on October 30.  He was appointed by Butch Otter in 2017.  His replacement will be appointed by Brad Little (R).

Kansas:  There are seven applicants for the seat on the Kansas Supreme Court vacated by Chief Justice Marla Luckert.  Governor Laura Kelly (D) will appoint a replacement.

Minnesota:  Chief Justice Natalie Hudson will retire on September 30, ahead of mandatory retirement next year.  She was appointed to the court in 2015 by Mark Dayton, and as chief by Tim Walz (D) in 2023.  Walz will appoint her replacement.

South Carolina:  Justice John Few dropped out of consideration for another term on the South Carolina Supreme Court.  The legislative election scheduled for March 4 was cancelled, and a new election will be scheduled after applications are reopened.  The new election may not be until next year since the South Carolina legislature will be out of session until then.  Former Speaker Jay Lucas appeared to have the most support for the seat.

Washington:  Governor Bob Ferguson (D) appointed Theo Angelis to the Washington Supreme Court.  He works in private practice.  He replaces Justice Barbara Madsen, who will retire on April 3.  

Wisconsin:  On April 7, Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor (D) defeated Maria Lazar (R) 60-40.  She will fill the seat held by Rebecca Bradley (R), who is retiring.  The court will be 5D-2R.

History:

On Ed Whelan's Substack, "Confirmation Tales", recent posts deal with Barack Obama's Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor.
Resources:
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Sunday, March 01, 2026

March 2026 Judiciary News

Nominations, Hearings, Confirmations:

Overview:  Ed Whelan asks four big questions on judicial appointments in 2026, including how many vacancies there will be on the Supreme Court, appeals courts, and district courts.

Overview:  Russell Wheeler gives an overview of Trump's first year of judicial nominations, comparing it with first years of other recent presidents.

Calendar:  Mike Fragoso explains that due to the Senate calendar, any judge who wants to see a successor confirmed this year should retire soon.

Red states:  There are still 18 vacant district court seats without nominees in red states (two R senators), including seven in Texas, two each in FL, LA, OH, and OK, and one each in AL, AK, and TN.  Mike Fragoso argues that the blue slip is not to blame, while Mike Davis argues that some R senators are to blame.

Vacancies:  After several months with no circuit court vacancies, three circuit judges announced that they will take senior status within a week.  They are Chief judge Jeffrey Sutton (6th Circuit), Chief judge Debra Ann Livingston (2nd Circuit), and judge Timothy Tymkovich (10th Circuit).  All three were appointed by W, in 2003, 2007, and 2003, respectively.

8th Circuit:  President Trump nominated Justin Smith for the 8th Circuit.  He was Trump's personal attorney, and also chief of staff to Senator Eric Schmitt.  He would replace Judge Duane Benton, who will take senior status.

Relatives:  President Trump has nominated children of two 8th Circuit judges to district courts.  Megan Benton, nominee for WD-MO, is the daughter of Duane Benton.  John Shepherd, nominee for WD-AR, is the son of Bobby Shepherd.

Nominations:
TBD

The Federal Judiciary:

Supreme Court:  The media reported on a 'study' claiming that the Supreme Court favors the rich over the poor.  The methodology of the study is laughable terrible, as it automatically classifies all government regulations as pro-poor.  It categorizes abortion regulations as anti-rich, and includes several factual errors.

Supreme Court:  The court instituted nondisclosure agreements for Supreme Court employees.  The left is complaining about this without acknowledging the threats and assassination attempt following the leak of the Dobbs abortion opinion.

Science:  The Federal Judicial Center published a Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence that is heavy on climate alarmism.  After protests by West Virginia AG JB McCuskey and others, the climate section was withdrawn.

D-MA:  Judge Mark Wolf retired in November at age 79, claiming that he needed to be able to speak out against President Trump.  However, at that time he was under investigation.  Judge David Barron (1st Circuit) "found “probable cause” to believe the judge engaged in misconduct by creating a hostile workplace for employees".  Interviews with employees provide more details on the allegations.

D-MD:  Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby (D-MD) created an environment that “resulted in an abusive workplace".  She acknowledged this in an order signed by Chief Judge Albert Diaz (4th Circuit).

ED-MI:  Judge Thomas Ludington crashed his car due to being 'super drunk' last fall.  He faces trial on May 8.

Vacancy Declarations:  There are now 46 current and future judicial vacancies.  New vacancies over the past two months are listed below.
WD-WI: James D. Peterson (Obama) TBD (senior)
6th Circuit: Jeffrey Sutton (W) 10/1/26 (senior)
2nd Circuit: Debra Ann Livingston (W) 7/1/26 (senior)
10th Circuit: Timothy Tymkovich (W) TBD (senior)

State Supreme Courts:

Arkansas:  Two seats on the Arkansas Supreme Court are up for election on March 3.  Justices Nick Bronni and Cody Hiland, both appointed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to fill vacancies, are running for each others' seats to avoid a prohibition on appointees running for their own seats.
Position 3: Justice Nick Bronni (R) faces John Adams.
Position 6: Justice Cody Hiland (R) is unopposed.

Colorado:  Governor Jared Polis (D) appointed Susan Blanco to the Colorado Supreme Court.  She became a district judge in January 2017.  She was one of three finalists for the seat.  She replaces justice Melissa Hart, who resigned on January 5, 2026.  

Delaware:  Delaware Supreme Court Justice Karen Valihura (R) will not seek reappointment when her term ends on July 25.  She was appointed in 2014.  Her successor must be a Republican.

Florida:  Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Adam Tanenbaum to the Florida Supreme Court.  Tanenbaum was previously appointed to the 1st District Court of Appeal by DeSantis in 2019.  He replaces justice Charles Canady, who resigned.  There were 10 applicants and 6 finalists for the position.

Illinois:  Justice Mary Jane Theis (D) retired from the Illinois Supreme Court on January 29.  She was appointed to the court in 2010.  The court appointed First District Appellate Court Justice Sanjay Tailor to fill her seat.  He became a judge in 2003 and a circuit judge in 2022.

New Hampshire:  Governor Kelly Ayotte appointed Superior Court Justice Daniel Will to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.  Governor Chris Sununu appointed Will as solicitor general in 2018, and to his current post in 2021.  He was confirmed 4-1 by the Executive Council, over opposition from Executive Councilor David Wheeler (R) due to Will's advocacy for state COVID restrictions.  He  replaces Hantz Marconi, who was age-limited on February 12.

North Dakota:  Governor Kelly Armstrong (R) appointed Mark Friese to the North Dakota Supreme Court.  He works in private practice.  He was one of 12 applicants and 6 finalists for the position.  He replaces Justice Daniel Crothers, who retired on February 28.  

Rhode Island:  Rhode Island Supreme Court Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg will retire on March 27.  She was appointed by Lincoln Almond (R) in 1997.  Rhode Island is the only state with lifetime tenure for Supreme Court judges.

Tennessee:  Governor Bill Lee (R) appointed appeals court judges Kyle Hixson to the Tennessee Supreme Court.  Lee previously appointed Hixson to the Knox County Criminal Court in 2019 and to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals in 2022.  He was one of three finalists for the seat of Justice Holly Kirby, who will retire on June 30, 2026.

Texas:  Bloomberg notes that Governor Greg Abbott has appointed three US Supreme Court clerks to the Texas Supreme Court.

Utah:  Governor Spencer Cox signed a bill to add two justices to the Utah Supreme Court.  This expands the court from 5 to 7 justices.  Governor Cox will appoint the new justices.

Vermont:  Governor Phil Scott (R) appointed Christina Nolan and Michael Drescher to the Vermont Supreme Court.  They replace Justices Karen Russell Carroll and William Cohen, who retired.  Nolan clerked for F. Dennis Saylor IV (D-MA) was US Attorney (D-VT) 2017-21 and ran for US Senate in 2022.  Drescher clerked for Fred I. Parker (2nd Circuit) served as an AUSA and interim US Attorney (D-VT).  Drescher's nomination was controversial due to his representation of the Trump administration on immigration cases, and was only confirmed due to LG John Rodgers breaking a tie vote.

Washington:  Justice Barbara Madsen will retire on April 3.  She was first elected to the court in 1993.  Governor Bob Ferguson (D) will appoint her replacement.

Wisconsin:  A seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court is up for election on April 7.  Incumbent Rebecca Bradley (R) is retiring.  The candidates are Appeals Court Judges Chris Taylor (D) and Maria Lazar (R).

History:

On Ed Whelan's Substack, "Confirmation Tales", recent posts deal with George W. Bush's nominations of lower court judges and Barack Obama's nominations.
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Thursday, February 12, 2026

20 Years

This blog launched on February 12, 2006.  My first post was the next day.  This began as a group blog for the WMU College Republicans.  The other contributors to this blog moved on to bigger and better things.

In the early years, we covered the inanities of college life, including from the administration, student government, student newspaper, and campus leftists.  I also covered local, state, and national politics.  The years 2006-2013 are summarized in articles on the sidebar at right.
2006: The Year at Western

I began covering local and state elections in 2006, and that coverage has continued to this day.  The decline of local journalism has made it harder to find good information on local elections.  This isn't easy for me, and it must be harder for those without political connections.
Election Analysis Archive

I wrote a series of posts trying to explain basic political ideas to my readers.
Understanding Economics
Understanding Government
Specific Political Issues

Some posts were just quick links to other articles with minimal commentary.  Others were more substantial, and took more time to write.  I archived some of my favorite articles on this blog, which can be seen on the sidebar at right.
The best of The Western Right: 2006

I archived some interesting articles on my old blog Conservative Digest Weekly, and copied the "Political Updates" over here.
Conservative Digest Weekly

Since 2020, I have mainly been writing about the politics of the judiciary, aggregating news articles and doing some data analysis.

Occasionally, I have done a deep dive on a political issue.  One example is the 2012 GOP primary in MI-6 between Fred Upton and Jack Hoogendyk.
Fred Upton's Smear Campaign

Perhaps the best work I did was my work on 2020 election conspiracies.  I wrote a series of posts on individual topics, and combined them into one comprehensive article.
Voter Fraud Conspiracy Nonsense Debunking Roundup

Many of my posts are also copied to RRH Elections.  I won't promise another 20 years, but I will keep spreading truth when I can.

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