WASHINGTON, DC – President Donald Trump announced his 12th wave of judicial nominees for 19 lifetime federal judgeships on Tuesday, including two short-listers for the U.S. Supreme Court.
The president nominated three people for the U.S. courts of appeals:
Justice Britt Grant currently serves on the Georgia Supreme Court, and is nominated for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Grant is the former Georgia solicitor general who previously served in the Bush 43 White House and litigated at the powerhouse law firm Kirkland & Ellis. She is a graduate of Stanford Law School and clerked for Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Paul Matey is general counsel and a senior vice president at University Hospital in New Jersey, and is nominated for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He served as deputy chief counsel to former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) and as a federal prosecutor. Matey graduated from Seton Hall and clerked first for a federal district judge in New Jersey and later for a judge on the Third Circuit.
David Porter is a partner at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney in Pittsburgh, and is nominated for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He serves on the board of Grove City College, where he also earned his bachelor’s degree. He graduated from law school from George Mason University (the law school that was recently named the Antonin Scalia Law School in honor of the late Justice Scalia), and clerked for a federal district judge in Pennsylvania, Judge D. Brooks Smith, who was subsequently elevated to a seat on the Third Circuit.
The president also nominated the following individuals to the U.S. district courts:
- Raul Arias-Marxuach, District of Puerto Rico
- Pamela Barker, Northern District of Ohio
- Kenneth Bell, Western District of North Carolina
- Wendy Williams, Middle District of Florida
- Holly Brady, Northern District of Indiana
- Andrew Brasher, Middle District of Alabama
- Stephen Clark, Eastern District of Missouri
- P Hanlon, Southern District of Indiana
- Jonathan Katchen, District of Alaska
- Mary McElroy, District of Rhode Island
- David Morales, Southern District of Texas
- Sarah Morrison, Southern District of Ohio
- John O’Connor, all district of Oklahoma (Eastern, Western, Northern)
- Lance Walker, District of Maine
- Allen Winsor, Northern District of Florida
- Patrick Wyrick, Western District of Oklahoma
Wyrick’s nomination deserves special mention, because he is on President Trump’s list of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees. Wyrick is currently a justice on the Oklahoma Supreme Court and formerly served as Oklahoma solicitor general. He received his law degree from University of Oklahoma, then clerked for a federal district court judge in Oklahoma. He is considered a top contender to be elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Grant – nominated to the Eleventh Circuit – is also on President Trump’s list of 25 potential Supreme Court justices.
The president also nominated a number of U.S. attorneys and U.S. marshals nationwide, as well as a new judge for the U.S. Tax Court (which is not a lifetime judgeship and not part of the Constitution’s Article III federal judiciary, and therefore not counted among the judgeships above).
These nominees join the growing queue of distinguished picks pending in the U.S. Senate, where Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has employed unprecedented stalling tactics on President Trump’s nominees to the judiciary and to top executive-branch positions in the Trump administration, leading conservatives to adopt the twitter hashtag #schumershostages.
Ken Klukowski is senior legal editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @kenklukowski.
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