The Senate cleared five more of Donald Trump’s judicial nominees on Wednesday, including one of his few black appointees.
Fulfilling his campaign promise to reshape the federal judiciary, Trump has now appointed 119 judges to lifetime seats, including 76 district judges, dozens of appeals court judges, and two U.S. Supreme Court justices.
The newly confirmed judges include Rodney Smith to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, who became the third of Trump’s black judicial appointees. The second, Eastern District of Virginia Judge Rossie Alston, was confirmed Monday.
Smith, confirmed by a vote of 78 to 18, has been a judge at the Florida Eleventh Judicial Circuit since 2012 after serving as a county court judge for about 4 years.
He received a rating of “Qualified” from the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which is lower than its highest rating of “Well Qualified.”
Most of Trump’s judicial selections so far have been white and male.
The other four new judges all received ratings of “Well Qualified.”
Thomas Barber was confirmed to the Middle District of Florida on a 77 to 19 vote. Barber has been a member of the Federalist Society since 1988. It’s an organization of conservatives and libertarians that has been instrumental in Trump judicial selections.
Corey Landon Maze was confirmed to the Northern District of Alabama, 62 to 34. He’s a former solicitor general for the state and is now a special deputy attorney general. He’s been a Federalist Society member since 2017.
Jean-Paul Boulee was confirmed to the Northern District of Georgia, 85 to 11. He’s been a DeKalb County Superior Court Judge since 2015, and a Federalist Society member since 2011. He was a partner at Jones Day and a captain in the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
Pamela Barker was easily confirmed to the Northern District of Ohio, 91 to 5. She’s been a judge at the Cuyahoga County Common Please since 2011.
Seven district judges have been confirmed this week, including Alston and Sarah Morrison of the Southern District of Ohio.
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