Four Circuit Seats Await as Trump Renews Plan to Shape Judiciary

In less than two weeks in office, President Donald Trump has already taken actions that have led to litigation—just as he did in his first term, when his travel ban immediately wound up in court. So just as they did in his first term, judges will play a key role in determining how much of Trump’s agenda ultimately gets enacted.

How will Trump reshape the judiciary during his second term? Although he’s currently focused on Cabinet and other executive-branch appointments, he will soon turn his attention to the courts.

“President Trump has made very clear that he’s going to build on the most consequential accomplishment of his first term—appointing Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett to the Supreme Court, as well as a near-record number of lower-court judges—by appointing even more bold and fearless judges in his second term,” Mike Davis, founder and president of The Article III Project, said.

Davis and The Article III Project, a conservative legal group that describes itself as bringing “brass knuckles to fight leftist lawfare,” is advising Trump on judicial nominees during his second term. It’s a shift from his first term, when that advisory role was played by the Federalist Society and one of its longtime leaders, Leonard Leo.

After reportedly having a falling-out with Trump, Leo is not expected to play a significant role in nominations this time around. But lawyers with ties to the Federalist Society will almost certainly continue to be considered for judicial posts, given the group’s widespread reach in conservative and libertarian legal circles.

It’s unclear if Trump will have another Supreme Court vacancy to fill in his second term, but he does have four seats to fill in the circuit courts. These appellate courts are hugely important because they have the final word in the vast majority of federal appeals, given how few cases the Supreme Court hears. And while most cases in the circuit courts aren’t controversial, court watchers take note of the party of the judge’s appointing president in the cases that are, since it often correlates with the judge’s vote.

Davis told me that the Article III Project has shared a list of potential judicial picks with the Trump administration, which they will continue to update. He declined to discuss individual possible nominees with me—except to note, in response to my asking about Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida, that she “would be an ideal candidate for the Supreme Court.” Cannon oversaw and ultimately dismissed the classified documents criminal case against Trump.

Based on my own research, here are some potential picks.

First Circuit

With only six seats for active judges, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is the smallest federal appellate court. It’s also the court with the highest percentage of Democratic appointees among its active judges: 100%. Expect it be a popular jurisdiction for filing lawsuits challenging Trump policies. Already, challengers filed three suits over Trump immigration initiatives in the First Circuit.

The First Circuit vacancy is a Maine-based seat. Circuit judges often come from the ranks of district judges, and the leading contender among current District of Maine judges is Chief Judge Lance Walker, 52. Trump appointed him to the federal bench in 2018, after Walker served four-plus years as a state-court judge. Both Maine senators supported him and he was confirmed by voice vote—a rarity in this day and age.

Another possibility is Patrick Strawbridge, a partner at the Consovoy McCarthy litigation boutique. His conservative bona fides are solid: He clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas, a popular credential among Trump’s first-term judicial picks, and successfully represented Students for Fair Admissions in its challenge to the University of North Carolina’s affirmative action policy.

Although Consovoy McCarthy is based in Arlington, Va., Strawbridge is originally from Maine and still maintains Maine bar membership. And he began his legal career in the Pine Tree State, clerking for the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine and working at Preti Flaherty, a Maine-based firm.

Third Circuit

“As Pennsylvania continues to play a decisive role in our national elections, [the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit] couldn’t be more important,” said Robert Luther III, a former Trump White House lawyer who is now a George Mason University law professor. The court currently has equal numbers of Republican and Democratic appointees—but after Trump fills its two vacancies, Republican-appointed judges will hold an 8-6 majority.

For the New Jersey-based seat, two contenders include Beth Williams, a member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, and Candice C. Wong, a member of the US Sentencing Commission. Although currently based in the D.C. area, both are from the Garden State originally, and Williams lives part-time in New Jersey and is barred there. Both were confirmed to their current posts by voice vote, which could mean relatively smooth confirmations.

Another possibility is Judd Serotta, a partner at Cozen O’Connor and past president of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Federalist Society, who was considered for a Third Circuit opening in the first Trump administration. Although he practices in Pennsylvania, he lives in New Jersey and is a member of its bar.

If Trump would like to appoint a lawyer with appellate experience, he could select John F. Romano. As a longtime member of the appeals division of the New Jersey US Attorney’s Office, he has appeared frequently before the Third Circuit—and also clerked on the court for Trump’s sister, the late Judge Maryanne Trump Barry.

I haven’t heard as much about the Delaware-based seat. Looking to the District of Delaware, it has two Trump appointees, Chief Judge Colm Connolly and Judge Maryellen Noreika—popular among conservatives for her criticism of Hunter Biden’s initial plea deal, which led it to fall apart. But Connolly and Noreika are 60 and 58, respectively—which likely makes them too old to be selected by Trump, who in his first term picked appellate judges with an average age of 47.

Sixth Circuit

Trump can pick from several possible nominees for the Tennessee-based seat on the Sixth Circuit that is currently held by Judge Jane Stranch (assuming she doesn’t rescind her retirement plans, as other judges have done). But in filling this opening, home-state senators will play a greater role, because both Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty are Republicans.

One potential pick is Justice Sarah Campbell, a member of the Tennessee Supreme Court since February 2022, who clerked on the Supreme Court—a credential Trump valued in his first-term picks—for Justice Samuel Alito. Another is Judge Katherine Crytzer—a prior Trump appointee, who he named to the Eastern District of Tennessee in 2020.

Two additional contenders have already been selected for roles in the new Trump administration: James Danly, who Trump nominated to serve as deputy secretary of energy, and Stephen Vaden, nominated to serve as deputy secretary of agriculture. Both have been through the Senate confirmation process before: Danly previously served as a commissioner and ultimately chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Vaden currently serves as a judge on the Court of International Trade. And although they have been named to executive-branch jobs, nothing would preclude them from being nominated as judges down the road.

In the end, it’s unlikely that Trump will have as transformative an effect on the federal judiciary in his second term, considering that he has less than half the vacancies he had at the start of his first. But he’ll still have a significant opportunity to shift the courts further to the right—and that could once again end up being a major part of his legacy.

David Lat, a lawyer turned writer, publishes Original Jurisdiction. He founded Above the Law and Underneath Their Robes, and is author of the novel “Supreme Ambitions.”

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