Statement from Demand Justice and Court Accountability Action: Members of Congress Must Prioritize Full-Throated Opposition to Trump’s Dangerous Judicial Nominees
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 4, 2025
CONTACT:
Washington, DC– Today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Trump’s first round of judicial nominations underscores the urgent need for pro-democracy Senators to use key moments like confirmation hearings to ask pointed questions to nominees and provide for the general public an open and transparent forum to showcase the judiciary that Trump seeks to build upon in his second term.
During today’s hearing, Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Whitney Hermandorfer refused to definitively answer whether the “parties covered by [a judicial] order—including the administration—need to abide by that order.” Missouri District Court nominee Josh Divine, when questioned about his long history of anti-abortion advocacy—including referring publicly to himself as “a zealot for the [anti-abortion] movement”—responded that “if you’re an advocate for a cause, you have a duty to advocate that cause energetically.”
“The MAGA movement has made clear that they want judicial nominees who will serve their ongoing campaign to weaken the judiciary and expand executive power in a way that is antithetical to the foundations of our government,” said Maggie Jo Buchanan, Interim Executive Director of Demand Justice. “The president himself has attacked judges, giving rise to unprecedented threats of violence, all while the administration continues to flout court orders and issue more and more extreme policies. Given this threat, Senators have an absolute duty to seize on every opportunity to broadcast to the American public what is at stake for our country—and for those who serve on the judiciary committee, that means showing up and asking the hard questions that any lifetime appointee to the bench should be prepared to answer.”
“The direct threat these nominees pose to our fundamental rights and freedoms is not one that should be taken lightly,” said Alex Aronson, Executive Director of Court Accountability Action. “Working hand in glove with Senate Republicans, Donald Trump used his first term to turn the Senate into a conveyor belt for MAGA-aligned politicians in robes. It’s clear that Trump now has an even more dangerous vision for the American judiciary, wherein federal judges are simply another weapon in Trump’s personal enforcement arsenal. With Senate Republicans again content to serve as Trump’s rubber stamp, it’s critical that champions of a fair and independent judiciary show up to hearings in force and fulfill their advice-and-consent obligations for these vital life-tenured seats.”
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