Saturday, November 01, 2025

November 2025 Judiciary News

Nominations, Hearings, Confirmations:

Appellate Nominees:  Ed Whelan updates the status of Trump's appeals court nominees.  He also breaks down the appeals courts by partisan appointments.

3rd Circuit:  Jennifer Mascott was confirmed 50-47.  Along with appointee Emil Bove, the 3rd Circuit now has an 8-6 majority of R appointees.  This may have an impact on some current cases, including a New Jersey gun ban.

7th Circuit:  Rebecca Taibleson, nominee for the 7th Circuit, was attacked by several conservative organizations due to her donation to Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and some donations by her husband.  Josh Blackman and the Wall Street Journal objected to the criticisms.  Nonetheless, she was confirmed 52-46.

8th Circuit:  Judge Duane Benton will take senior status.  This is the first opening for a court of appeals seat in 7 months.

Nominations:  The US Senate adopted a rule change to allow "en bloc" votes on lesser executive branch nominations.  This means that many nominations can be voted on at once, without requiring separate cloture votes.  This does not change the rules for judicial nominations, but it does eliminate a backlog and could allow judicial nominations to be considered more quickly.

MD-FL:  The nomination of John Guard is on hold indefinitely due to his involvement with a charity linked to Governor Ron DeSantis that is under investigation.  Guard is supported by Senator Ashley Moody (a DeSantis ally), but Senator Rick Scott has refused to return a blue slip at this time.

ND-MS:  Nominees James Maxwell and Robert Chamberlin have had a vote on their nominations delayed multiple times in the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Senator Chuck Grassley (R) said the delay is "unrelated to the candidates themselves" but did not give an explanation.

Texas:  Senators Cruz and Cornyn have recommended four candidates for federal district judgeships in Texas.

Nominations:
D-AK:  Aaron Peterson-Assistant Attorney General
SD-TX:  Nicholas Ganjei-clerk for Ralph Erickson (D-ND), Richard Griffin (6th Circuit), US Attorney (SD-TX)
WD-AR:  David Fowlkes-US Attorney (WD-AR)

The Federal Judiciary:

Supreme Court:  While often voting together, the three liberal justices have taken different approaches on the court.  Justice Kagan does the most to try to persuade more conservative colleagues.  Justice Sotomayor votes for leftist outcome but still respects the institution.  Justice Jackson engages in more grandstanding, possibly wanting to undermine the legitimacy of the court.

Criticism:  A group of federal judges anonymously criticized the Supreme Court for not writing opinions when deciding emergency docket cases.  The court has repeatedly overturned the injunctions imposed by district judges and liberal district judges are upset about this.

Criticism:  The New York Times surveyed some federal judges who again criticized the Supreme Court concerning the emergency docket.  However, the survey was only sent to judges in jurisdictions where cases have been filed against the Trump administration; that is jurisdictions with mostly liberal judges.

Retirements:  Bloomberg suggests that judicial retirements are increasing from their initial slow pace.  However, there were only 5 retirements in the last two months.

D-NJ, SD-MS:  Judges Julien Neals and Henry Wingate admitted to using AI in two recent error-riddled opinions, which they blamed on an intern and a law clerk, respectively.  Both judges say they are taking measures to avoid a similar situation in the future.

DC:  Judicial nominations to DC's municipal court are screened by a nominating commission controlled by the left before the President can make a nomination.  Carrie Severino argues that this is unconstitutional and should be overturned.

Vacancy Declarations:  There are now 54 current and future judicial vacancies.  New vacancies over the past two months are listed below.
SD-NY: Cathy Seibel (W) 11/3/25 (senior)
ND-TX: Jane Boyle (W) 10/1/25 (senior)
ND-AL: David Proctor (W) 1/1/26 (senior)
SD-OH: Michael Watson (W) 11/1/25 (senior)
8th Circuit: Duane Benton (W) TBD (senior)

State Supreme Courts:

California:  California Supreme Court Justice Martin Jenkins retired on October 31.  He was appointed by Gavin Newsom in 2020.  Newsom will appoint his replacement.

Hawaii:  Justice Mark Recktenwald left the court on October 1, as he is age-limited.  He was appointed by Linda Lingle (R) in 2009.  This vacancy was known for over a year, yet the application deadline has repeatedly been extended from February 20 to September 11 to November 3.

Nebraska:  The Judicial Nominating Commission proposed Patrick Guinan and Derek Vaughn for a vacant seat on the Nebraska Supreme Court.  Governor Jim Pillen will appoint one of them to district 2 (part of Douglas County).  Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman retired on October 31.  

New Hampshire:  Justice Hantz Marconi pled no contest to one charge of criminal solicitation.  She had been indicted for attempting to influence Governor Chris Sununu to drop an investigation into her husband.  She will pay a fine and return to the bench.  She will be age-limited on February 12, 2026.

Pennsylvania:  Three justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht (all D) face a retention vote on November 4.  Both parties have spent heavily on the election.  The court is currently 5D, 2R.

Tennessee:  Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Holly Kirby will retire on June 30, 2026.  She was appointed by Bill Haslam in 2014.  Five candidates have applied for the position.  Governor Bill Lee (R) will get his fourth appointment to the court.

Texas:  Governor Greg Abbott appointed Kyle Hawkins to the Texas Supreme Court.  Hawkins clerked for Edith Jones (5th Circuit) and Samuel Alito.  He was solicitor general of Texas 2018-21.  He will replace Justice Jeff Boyd, who resigned on September 1.

Utah:  Governor Spencer Cox (R) nominated John Nielsen to the Utah Supreme Court.  He was one of seven applicants for the position.  Cox previously appointed Nielsen to the 3rd District Court in 2024.  If confirmed, he will replace Justice John Pearce, who will retire on December 1.

Washington:  Justice Mary Yu will retire on December 31.  She was appointed by Jay Inslee in 2014.  Governor Bob Ferguson (D) will appoint her replacement.

West Virginia:  There are 12 applicants and 4 finalists for a seat on the West Virginia Supreme Court.  Justice Tim Armstead (R) died from cancer on August 26.  Governor Patrick Morrisey (R) will appoint a replacement.

Numbers and Trivia:

7th Circuit:  As of October 1, the new chief judge of the 7th Circuit is Michael Brennan, who was appointed by Trump in 2018.  He replaces Diane Sykes, who was appointed by W in 2004.  The Presidents who appointed chief judges of the 13 appeals courts are W (2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, Fed), Obama (1, 4, 9, DC), and Trump (7).

History:

On Ed Whelan's Substack, "Confirmation Tales", recent posts deal with George W. Bush's nominations of lower court judges.
California and Idaho Spar Over Ninth Circuit Seat
Chuck Schumer Declares No Bush Supreme Court Nominee Will Be Confirmed
Thomas Hardiman Survives Democratic Takeover of Senate
Democrats Deny Hearing to Fourth Circuit Nominee Robert Conrad

Bazelon:  Joel Klein writes about his experience clerking for pro-criminal judge David Bazelon (DC Circuit).  Bazelon treated Klein horribly after he expressed doubt about one of Bazelon's theories.  Later, moderate Supreme Court justice Lewis Powell treated Klein well.

Resources:
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