patrick mcneil (he/him)

NEW: Trump's conservative pick to permanently lead the DOJ's environmental division, Adam Gustafson, is already reshaping it. Beyond his alarming record at DOJ on environmental issues, his background includes anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ work. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/trumps-con...

NEW: The Senate will return in two weeks, on November 9, following the midterm elections. Since senators left Washington last month, several developments have shaped how judicial nominations will likely proceed for the remainder of the 119th Congress. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/where-thin...

ICYMI: Trump has nominated Grayson Lambert to serve as a lifetime judge in South Carolina. Like many of Trump’s judicial nominees, Lambert has worked throughout his legal career to restrict reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ equality, voting rights, and more. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/trump-nomi...

Scoop: Trump has nominated Grayson Lambert, chief legal counsel to Gov. Henry McMaster, to serve on the District of South Carolina, a source familiar confirmed to me. Trump had not previously announced the nomination on Truth Social or elsewhere. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/trump-nomi...

Trump's last 19 lifetime judicial nominees have ALL been men. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/trump-nomi...

No, this is not a young Brett Kavanaugh. This is Trump's previously unannounced nominee for a lifetime federal judgeship in South Carolina.

Reminder: Here's how senators have voted on Trump 2.0 lifetime judicial nominees. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/scorecard-...

Per a database of discrimination complaints obtained by @propublica.org , Trump's Department of Education is actively ignoring reports of rape and assault on campuses so they can instead focus on transgender athletes. Their obsession with trans people is actively putting women and girls in danger.

Love to see this from Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, a Biden appointee who was an incredible civil rights lawyer before becoming a judge. She dedicated her career to protecting immigrants' rights and is just the second Latina lifetime judge to ever serve on the Northern District of California.

A White House official confirmed to me this evening that Sen. Blackburn has returned her blue slip on Samuel Adkisson’s nomination to the Eastern District of TN. She was previously blocking the White House lawyer’s nomination. And still hasn't said why. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/adkisson-n...

I think I'm the first to report this (and I'm still not sure why the White House told me this) but, you know, I'm still figuring out this whole journalism thing.

If it were up to Trump's judicial nominees, only the attorney general of the United States could enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act — not civil rights organizations on behalf of private citizens who've experienced racial discrimination in voting. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/how-trumps...

Billionaires and corporate America didn’t get lucky in court. It rigged the bench against working people, judge by judge. Our new report with @groundwork.bsky.social exposes the judges doing billionaires' bidding. @nominationnotes.substack.com: nominationnotes.substack.com/p/new-report...

The counsel of record on SFFA's brief in this case is a young lawyer from South Carolina who was a fellow at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. He formerly clerked for Justice Thomas & Judge Sentelle. There's now a judicial vacancy in SC and Madiba's story has convinced me he'll get nominated 🫣

During Trump's second term, Senator Collins has voted for 95 percent of his lifetime judicial nominees — many with truly horrible records of restricting abortion access and reproductive freedom.

ICYMI: Trump announced two more judicial nominees yesterday — Eric Hamilton for the District of Nebraska and Joseph Falvey for the Northern District of Indiana. Trump's last 18 lifetime judicial nominees have ALL been men. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/trump-anno...

This white supremacist is still appointing lifetime federal judges — and nominated two more just six hours ago.

Wow.

They have abandoned any pretense that any of this is non-political. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/judiciary-...

Senator Susan Collins has only opposed three of Trump's 56 lifetime judicial nominees during his second term. She has voted to confirm A LOT of anti-abortion judges. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/scorecard-...

NEW: How have senators voted on Trump 2.0 judicial nominees? I just published a scorecard showing how often senators opposed Trump's loyalist judges since last year. Only 27 Democrats opposed all 56 lifetime judges. 51/53 Republicans supported them all. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/scorecard-...

NEW: Judiciary Republicans are planning to break committee norms, over the objections of committee Democrats, to push through more Trump judges after the midterm elections. A spokesperson for Durbin confirmed to me that Dems did not agree to this. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/judiciary-...

Senator Susan Collins has only opposed three of Trump's 56 lifetime judicial nominees during his second term. She has voted to confirm A LOT of anti-abortion judges. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/scorecard-...

Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans plan to break norms, over the objections of committee Democrats, in order to push through more Trump judges after the midterm elections. nominationnotes.substack.com/p/judiciary-...