9th Cir. Seats

Seating for 8!

Today's DJ presents Where are the Trump Judges: For a president who repeatedly touts his success at filling federal judicial openings, Trump has yet to make an impact on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. With seven openings and only one named candidate with a likely path to the bench, Trump has yet to move successfully on the remaining six.

• "By August, when Idaho-based judge N. Randy Smith takes senior status, Trump will have an eighth spot to fill on the 29-judge court."
• "He has nominated two people to the court thus far. One, Hawaii’s former attorney general Mark J. Bennett, nominated in February, enjoys the support of his Democratic home state senators and appears to have an easy path ahead of him."
• "In Oregon, where Trump has tried to replace conservative 9th Circuit stalwart Diarmuid O’Scannlain, who also took senior status in 2016, with his former clerk, federal prosecutor Ryan Bounds, the president appears to have hit a wall. The state’s two Democratic senators cried foul when Bounds’ name was announced in September, saying the president had not properly consulted with them."
• Last summer, the White House sent Feinstein and Harris a list of five potential names for a California 9th Circuit seat. At that point, only one seat was open on the court. On the list were Washington, D.C.-based Kirkland & Ellis LLP partner Daniel Bress, Los Angeles-based Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP partner Daniel Collins, Los Angeles-based Jenner & Block LLP partner Kenneth Lee, Judge James Rogan, who sits on the Orange County Superior Court, and Burbank-based Horvitz & Levy LLP partner Jeremy Rosen.