Two months into 2026, here’s where things stand on Trump’s judicial nominations
Seven confirmations, 11 lifetime nominations, one hearing, and more.
The Senate adjourned on Thursday afternoon and will be back in action next week (which is, somehow, already March). Two months into the year, it’s worth pausing to assess what’s happened so far in 2026 with respect to Trump’s judicial nominees — and what’s likely to come.
The issue of Trump’s lower court nominations didn’t explicitly come up during his State of the Union address this week. And, yet, his entire speech was about it. The president chided the Supreme Court justices who ruled against his tariffs just a few days earlier, calling it a “very unfortunate ruling” and staring directly into the eyes of some of those justices who dared to vote against him. His message throughout the evening was clear: If you don’t support his white supremacist agenda and conspiracy theories, he wants nothing to do with you. His judicial nominees — and other lawyers who hope to be nominated — were at home listening, and you can be sure, given Trump’s expectation of loyalty, that they will answer questions from the Judiciary Committee accordingly.
New nominees this year
So far this year, Trump has announced 11 more lifetime judicial nominees in three separate announcements.
On January 6, he announced the nominations of Anna St. John for the Eastern District of Louisiana, John Thomas Shepherd for the Western District of Arkansas, Andrew Davis for the Western District of Texas, and Chris Wolfe for the Western District of Texas.
On February 12, he announced the nominations of Katie Lane for the District of Montana, Sheria Clarke for the District of South Carolina, Kara Westercamp for the Court of International Trade, and Evan Rikhye for the District of the Virgin Islands (note: Rikhye’s nomination is not for a lifetime judgeship).
On February 18, he announced the nomination of Justin Smith to serve in a Missouri seat on the Eighth Circuit, in addition to the nominations of Jeffrey Kuhlman, Tony Mattivi, and Tony Powell for the District of Kansas.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting in December, Chair Chuck Grassley urged Trump to pick up the pace on nominees, saying “I’d like to process even more judicial nominations, but I’m waiting on the president to get those nominations up here.” Trump is now — to the peril of our courts — announcing more judicial selections.
Notably, Trump’s picks include the first woman of color to be nominated to a lifetime judgeship during this president’s second term. Sheria Clarke is now just the third Black woman nominated by Trump to serve as a lifetime judge in his more than five years in office (Trump’s shameful efforts to do away with DEI and prioritize “merit” in hiring decisions tells you a lot about what he thinks of women of color).
Katie Lane graduated from law school in 2017 and is unqualified for judicial service. And Justin Smith is one of Trump’s personal lawyers who is being rewarded with a seat on a powerful federal appellate court — assuming Senate Republicans continue to rubber-stamp Trump’s nominees.
Only one hearing so far
The Senate Judiciary Committee has only held one nominations hearing so far in 2026, and it is unclear when the next one will be (though it will likely be in mid to late March).
On February 4, the committee considered the nominations of St. John, Shepherd, Davis, and Wolfe — another panel of only white nominees. The most notable moment of the hearing was their universal refusal to say, in response to questions from Senator Richard Blumenthal, that President Biden won the 2020 election. They also would not say whether the U.S. Capitol was attacked on January 6, 2021. In responses to written questions for the record, they doubled down on these non-answers.
During the hearing, Senator Mazie Hirono also asked St. John whether she considers the Supreme Court’s decisions in Griswold and Eisenstadt to be settled law and if she would follow the precedents if confirmed. Humiliatingly, St. John said that she “would have to look and see whether they’ve been overturned.” Senator Chris Coons followed up in writing and asked St. John if she’d examined whether those two landmark decisions have been overturned or remain binding law. St. John conceded that she now understands both decisions are binding precedent that she would faithfully apply.
Seven lifetime confirmations
So far this year, the Senate has confirmed seven lifetime judges — and six of those confirmations happened in a stretch of three days earlier this month.
On January 8, the Senate confirmed Alexander Van Hook to the Western District of Louisiana. Seven Democrats supported his confirmation despite his refusal to answer certain questions. During the first week of February, six more nominees were rushed through:
On February 3, the Senate confirmed Clay Fowlkes to the Western District of Arkansas, with Senators Dick Durbin, Maggie Hassan, Tim Kaine, Jeanne Shaheen, and Sheldon Whitehouse supporting his confirmation.
On February 3, the Senate confirmed Nick Ganjei to the Southern District of Texas (party-line vote).
On February 4, the Senate confirmed Aaron Peterson to the District of Alaska, with Senators Tammy Duckworth, Dick Durbin, Maggie Hassan, Tim Kaine, Mark Kelly, Jeanne Shaheen, and Sheldon Whitehouse supporting his confirmation.
On February 4, the Senate confirmed Megan Benton to the Western District of Missouri (party-line vote).
On February 5, the Senate confirmed Brian Lea to the Western District of Tennessee (party-line vote).
On February 5, the Senate confirmed Justin Olson to the Southern District of Indiana (party-line vote).
As it stands, 19 Senate Democrats have now voted to confirm at least one of Trump’s judicial nominees this term.
I wrote about Ganjei and Olson and their extreme records in particular — and about Lea and his lack of professional connection to Tennessee (he’s never practiced in the state, but he is now a lifetime judge there).
The following week, the Senate also confirmed Daniel Burrows to serve as assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy — the office at DOJ that “assists the Attorney General with responsibilities in recommending candidates for federal judgeships, and coordinates the judicial nomination and confirmation process with the White House and the Senate.” I wrote about some of his troubling responses to written questions.
Where things stand
Trump has now appointed 33 lifetime judges during his second term, with 11 more lifetime nominees announced (plus Rikhye’s nomination to the District of the Virgin Islands, which is not a lifetime appointment). Six of those judges were confirmed to circuit courts, and the other 27 were confirmed to district courts across the country. Only one of the pending nominees, Justin Smith, is nominated to a circuit court, and the remaining 10 nominees are for district courts.
Trump’s nominees continue to lack professional diversity. He is not nominating former public defenders or civil rights lawyers to the bench — just lawyers who have spent their careers working to undermine fundamental rights and freedoms. Of the 33 confirmed judges, just three identify as people of color, and only eight are women. This is, of course, a setback for judicial diversity in America.
What happens next
The Senate Judiciary Committee is meeting next Thursday and will likely vote to advance the nominations of St. John, Shepherd, Davis, and Wolfe. They could be confirmed as soon as the following week and — assuming they make it out of committee — will be the only judicial nominees pending on the Senate floor.
The committee will likely hold one nominations hearing in March on some of Trump’s newest nominees before the Senate’s scheduled recess from March 30-April 10.
In the meantime, Trump could announce more nominees — and more judges could decide to hand over additional vacancies for him to fill. Last Friday, Judges Jeffrey Sutton and Debra Ann Livingston, the chief judges of the Sixth Circuit and Second Circuit, respectively, announced they were taking senior status. On Tuesday, Judge Timothy Tymkovich of the Tenth Circuit followed suit.
Now the question is: Will more join them?