Trump Judge Pick Who Drew Conservative Pushback Defends Herself

President Donald Trump’s nominee for the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit defended herself amid criticism from conservative leaders that she isn’t conservative enough to be appointed to the federal bench.

“I was raised by a very conservative law professor, and it has stuck,” Rebecca Taibleson said at her Wednesday confirmation hearing in response to questioning from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Taibleson’s father is George Mason University law professor Michael I. Krauss.

Leaders at the Council for National Policy, First Liberty Institute, and other conservative figures have argued in a slew of public statements and opinion pieces that 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.

Conservative leaders have targeted her 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). They’ve also taken issue with her husband’s donations to Democrats.

Among their concerns is her donation to the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, a Jewish social services and communal organization that supports LGBTQ members.

In response to Cruz, the only Republican on the Senate Judiciary panel to address the opposition, Taibleson spoke about her background growing up as the only conservative family in their Jewish Day School community. “In the 1990s, if you were Jewish and conservative, you had to really mean it, and we did,” she said.

Taibleson said that while it’s true that she and her husband don’t agree politically, they agree “about our devotion to our children, our religious faith, love of this country, deep relationships in our local community, and that is the stuff of day to day life.”

She also invoked Charlie Kirk in her remarks to say that she was raised in the “best tradition” of the late conservative activist “to relish debate, you know, prove me wrong.”

Cruz praised Taibleson’s testimony in support of Justice Brett Kavanaugh as he faced allegations of sexual assault during his nomination. Taibleson is a past clerk for Kavanaugh when he was on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Taibelson, a federal prosecutor in Wisconsin, is the first of Trump’s judicial picks this term to face such skepticism from conservatives. But Republicans’ limited interest in the pushback, and tepid pushback from Democrats, signals a smooth confirmation process.

Home-State Senators

Prior to her nomination, Taibleson was on a list of suggestions compiled by a bipartisan commission created by Wisconsin senators Ron Johnson (R) and Tammy Baldwin (D) and forwarded to the president. Each senator selects three members of the committee to serve for a total of six. Many senators use local merit-based judicial selection panels that vet and recommend potential nominees to the White House.

While the commission itself is bipartisan, it’s up to each of the senators to decide whether to support who’s chosen from the suggestions.

Johnson, who introduced Taibleson at the Wednesday hearing, backs her nomination. But Taibleson made clear at the hearing that she hasn’t gotten Baldwin’s support.

“I’m very privileged to have Senator Johnson support, but I don’t want to be misleading. To my knowledge, I do not have Senator Baldwin’s support,” Taibleson said in response to questioning from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).