The Senate is taking action this week to reward Trump’s personal lawyers and loyalists with powerful and critically important positions in our government.
This afternoon, the Senate confirmed Matthew Schwartz, one of Trump’s personal lawyers, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit — handing a lifetime judgeship to a man who has been working to help Trump escape accountability. He is now the third Trump lawyer confirmed to a federal appeals court since last year following the confirmations of Emil Bove to the Third Circuit and Justin Smith to the Eighth Circuit.
Tomorrow morning, confirmation hearings begin in the Senate Judiciary Committee on the nomination of Todd Blanche to serve as the Senate-confirmed attorney general of the United States. Blanche, who was also previously Trump’s personal lawyer, has continued working on behalf of Trump as deputy attorney general — and now interim attorney general — of the United States.
Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, told The New York Times today after obtaining new documents through FOIA that “Todd Blanche oversaw senior Justice Department officials pursuing politically charged investigations, convened recurring meetings of the so-called weaponization working group, and committed departmental resources to advancing President Trump’s efforts targeting political opponents, election administration and other high-profile vendettas.”
It is not surprising, then, that Trump wants him leading the Department of Justice permanently. And while Blanche’s confirmation is not guaranteed, the process continues to move forward.
Tomorrow the Senate will also likely vote on the nomination of Jeffrey Kuntz to serve as a life-tenured judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture on his nomination on Monday, teeing up likely cloture and confirmation votes on Wednesday.
Kuntz has never served as Trump’s personal lawyer, but he has shown his loyalty to Trump in another highly consequential way. As a state court judge in Florida, Kuntz ruled in favor of Trump while actively seeking a federal judicial nomination from the president. The case was Alexander v. Trump, a defamation case against the Pulitzer Prize Board in which Trump was a party in his personal capacity. For that, the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) filed an ethics complaint against Kuntz in May. As they wrote:
He sought a powerful lifetime appointment from one of the parties in a case before him, ruled in that party’s favor, accepted a White House interview shortly thereafter, and was ultimately nominated for the position he had been seeking. The opposing parties in Alexander v. Trump appear to have been given no notice of this conflict. The integrity of the judiciary depends on public confidence that judicial decisions are made on the law and the facts, not on a judge’s personal career interests. Judge Kuntz’s conduct undermines that confidence and merits a full investigation by this Commission. We respectfully urge the Commission to investigate these matters as expeditiously as possible and to initiate appropriate disciplinary proceedings.
Democratic senators asked Kuntz about this during his hearing and in written questions for the record. Despite his actions and the unresolved ethics complaint against him, Republicans are moving forward on his nomination anyway. His confirmation would mean that he will escape accountability for his actions as a judge in Florida, leaving him with a powerful lifetime appointment on the federal bench.
This is not the first time that FPF has filed an ethics complaint against one of Trump’s judicial nominees during his second term. Last year, alongside Demand Progress, they filed a complaint against Ed Artau — a judge who served on the very same Florida court as Kuntz and who joined Kuntz’s decision in Alexander v. Trump. He was confirmed last year and evaded accountability.
Trump expects and demands loyalty from all of his nominees — not just those who have worked as his personal lawyer or who ruled in his favor as a judge. Throughout the confirmation process, judicial nominees have sought to demonstrate their fealty to the man who nominated them. Since last year, 57 judicial nominees have appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to interview for life-tenured positions as federal judges. Those confirmation hearings, and follow-up questions for the record, have revealed a unified unwillingness of Trump’s judicial nominees to go against the president and admit the truth: Trump lost the 2020 election. Nominees have also avoided directly answering questions about the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Nominees’ responses to these questions have shifted over time. Still, none have unconditionally asserted that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
Blanche’s confirmation hearings begin Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. ET and will resume on Thursday morning immediately following the committee’s markup of several judicial nominations. Kuntz’s votes are expected on Wednesday but have not yet been scheduled.