Trump’s Seventh Circuit Nominee Draws Conservative Criticism

Conservatives are divided on whether President Donald Trump’s recent nominee to the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is conservative enough to earn an appointment to the federal bench.

A group of conservative leaders say Rebecca Taibleson hasn’t sufficiently proven her commitment to the conservative legal movement, a first for the president who’s aggressively sought to push the judiciary rightward this term.

Leaders at the Council for National Policy, First Liberty Institute, and other conservative figures say her “history of left-wing donations and work history suggest she does not possess the judicial temperament required for an even-handed, equal application of the law along originalist grounds,” according to a Monday joint statement.

Taibelson, a federal prosecutor in Wisconsin and former DC Circuit clerk for Brett Kavanaugh, is the first of Trump’s judicial picks this term to face such skepticism from conservatives. She is set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said “President Trump only selects the most qualified and talented judicial nominees who will uphold our Constitution and the rule of law, which is why he nominated Rebecca Taibleson to the Seventh Circuit.”

Among her critics’ concerns are her political donations, including to then Senate Democrat Joe Manchin in 2022 and a judicial candidate in Wisconsin who’d been appointed to her current judicial post by Gov. Tony Evers (D). Taibleson also donated to the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, a Jewish social services and communal organization that among its programming supports LGBTQ members.

The critics also target Taibleson’s husband’s donations to Democrats, and her work in the Justice Department. She was assistant to the solicitor general, starting in the first Trump administration.

“There is no evidence Taibleson is bold or fearless, battle tested or strong on the issues,” Ken Blackwell, president for the Council for National Policy, said in an opinion piecepublished in advance of the broader Republican statement, which echoes similar arguments.

Nominee Defense

Other conservatives have come to Taibleson’s defense. Michael Fragoso, a former top aide to former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), called Blackwell’s piece “a farrago of misstatements, exaggerations, and omissions.”

In an opinion piece published Tuesday, Fragoso cited Taibleson’s time clerking for conservative justice Antonin Scalia, her defense of Justice Brett Kavanaugh as he faced allegations of sexual assault during his nomination, and her work for the Trump Justice Department, which he said Blackwell downplays or missrepresents.

Trump “should trust his actual advisers and not false friends feeding him a draft of sour grapes,” Fragoso said.

Josh Blackman, a prominent conservative lawyer, in a Tuesday piece calls scrutiny of Taibleson’s donation to the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, which supports a variety of issues related to the local Jewish community, an attack that “crossed the line.” Taibleson is Jewish.