President Donald Trump’s first judicial nominees since returning to the White House are set to appear Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee as the administration moves quickly to install a new wave of conservative judges shaped by high-stakes legal battles in red states.
Five of Trump’s 11 announced nominees will testify at the hearing, including four federal district court picks from Missouri and one 6th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee from Tennessee. The group includes attorneys who helped dismantle former President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, defend abortion and transgender procedure restrictions, and challenge the reach of federal power in courtrooms across the country.
Leading the group is Missouri Solicitor General Joshua Divine, who is nominated to become a federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and Western District of Missouri.
Divine has argued in some of the most consequential lawsuits brought by a state during the Biden years. Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey called Divine “one of the finest legal minds I’ve had the privilege to work with,” citing his role in blocking Biden’s $700 billion student loan plan and defending Missouri laws before the Supreme Court, even while recovering from a catastrophic injury.
“As Solicitor General, he didn’t just argue cases; he fundamentally changed the legal landscape in Missouri and across the nation,” Bailey said.
Also appearing at the hearing are Maria Lanahan, Missouri’s principal deputy solicitor general, and former Missouri assistant attorneys general Christopher Stevens and Brian Bluestone — all nominated to serve as federal district court judges. Each served under Bailey or his predecessor, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), and helped build a legal team that state officials say has become a model for constitutional litigation nationwide.
“In recent years, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office has become one of the most influential public law offices in the country,” Bailey said. “Missouri is leading the nation in legal talent, and these nominations prove it.”
Missouri’s influence on federal legal strategy extends into Trump’s administration. D. John Sauer, the new U.S. solicitor general and one of Trump’s top legal advisers, is a former Missouri solicitor general who trained or supervised several of Wednesday’s nominees during his tenure in Jefferson City.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), a key Republican member from Missouri on the committee, praised Trump’s selections in a statement, saying he is “ecstatic to see President Trump nominate these outstanding individuals to the federal bench.”
Also set to testify is Whitney Hermandorfer, an attorney in the Tennessee attorney general’s office who has defended state laws restricting abortion and gender-transition procedures for minors. She is nominated to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The White House has positioned this round of judicial appointments as a continuation of Trump’s effort to reshape the federal judiciary — this time drawing heavily from state-level attorneys with battle-tested records. Trump appointed 234 judges during his first term, including three to the Supreme Court.
Trump’s latest judicial push also comes amid deepening fractures within the conservative legal world. Just days before the hearing, the president attacked Leonard Leo, co-chairman of the Federalist Society, accusing him of giving “bad advice” on past judicial picks and calling him a “sleazebag” on social media. The outburst followed a ruling from the U.S. Court of International Trade — involving a Trump-appointed judge not recommended by Leo — that temporarily struck down much of his signature tariff policy.
Though the Federalist Society does not formally endorse judicial nominees or take policy positions, its network of legal scholars and alumni played an outsize role in Trump’s first-term appointments, including three Supreme Court justices. Trump’s sudden rebuke has alarmed some conservative court-watchers, who warn the president’s new approach could fracture a judicial pipeline built over decades. Others say the shift reflects Trump’s desire for nominees with proven loyalty and a more aggressive posture toward federal power.
However, that evolution remains more rhetorical than structural, at least for now. All of the nominees appearing at Wednesday’s hearing have at least some past ties to the Federalist Society, raising questions about whether Trump’s second-term judicial picks will ultimately differ in substance from those of his first. The only major appellate nominee so far without Federalist Society connections is Emil Bove, a former Trump defense lawyer and current Justice Department official. As Trump’s judicial machinery ramps up, the divide between loyalty and legal pedigree will likely face its first real tests in the coming months.
TRUMPWORLD TURNS ON LEONARD LEO AS JUDICIAL RIFT WIDENS
With the Senate under Republican control, lawmakers expect to move quickly on confirmations. Senate GOP leaders say installing judges who will limit federal overreach and defend traditional constitutional principles remains a top priority.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin at 10:15 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday.
