Spiegel Stuff: The Gavel: Federalist Society keeps grip on Trump's judicial nominations

By Ella Lee and Zach Schonfeld | Wednesday, May 20

FedSoc’s grip on Trump’s judicial nominees

President Trump’s public break with the Federalist Society, the sprawling conservative legal organization, created uncertainty over the types of nominations he’d make to the courts in his second term.

Now 16 months in, Trump’s new nominees aren’t so different from the last crop of jurists he tapped for the bench.

Key figures associated with the group have long advised conservative presidents on their judicial appointees, making Trump’s shunning over frustrations that the judges they vetted for his choosing weren’t loyal enough to his agenda a dramatic departure.

Despite that, FedSoc’s dominance in the conservative legal movement has made breaking off completely near impossible.

Look no further than the confirmation process for Trump’s nominees. Democrats have continued to try to pin nominees to the organization, and they’ve responded with pride.

“In my perspective, the Federalist Society has been a wonderful place to get together with the many, many lawyers who are members and learn about the law and discuss issues,” Whitney Hermandorfer, Trump’s first circuit court nominee, told senators at her confirmation hearing.

The Gavel reached out to the Federalist Society for comment.

All but one of Trump’s confirmed circuit court nominees have appeared at a Federalist Society event, the group’s website indicates.

The only exception is Emil Bove, one of Trump’s former personal lawyers whom he nominated to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. Bove’s nomination wasn’t universally received in traditional conservative legal circles.

Still, Bove has apparently made a connection. He disclosed that he spoke with Federalist Society President Sheldon Gilbert after his nomination.

Bove said the conversation concerned “my work experience, my qualifications for the position, and my judicial philosophy.”

Nominating former personal lawyers is one new element of Trump’s second-term judgeship nominations.

Beyond Bove, Justin Smith, who defends Trump in writer E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit against the president, was nominated to the Eighth Circuit, and Matthew Schwartz, one of his hush money attorneys, has been nominated to the Second Circuit.

Smith is set to speak at a FedSoc summit in Washington, D.C. today.

Many of Trump’s nominees follow similar track records to the judges he selected during his first term; it’s a pipeline created over decades.

Founded in the 1980s to challenge liberal orthodoxy at law schools, The Federalist Society officially takes no position on particular legal or public policy matters.

But it has essentially become a synonym for the conservative legal movement itself, in recent decades propelling a network of young lawyers into successful careers, and in some instances, judgeships.

The groups’ crown jewel was obtained during Trump’s first term, when longtime Federalist Society leader Leonard Leo built the lists that the president chose from to select his three high court nominees: Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

As Trump’s second-term agenda has faced roadblocks in the courts, including adverse rulings from judges he put on the bench, including those on the high court, the president’s relationship with the Federalist Society has soured.

After a lower court blocked the bulk of his tariffs last year, Trump called Leo, a “sleazebag.”

“Sleazebag ‘influencer’ and lawyer Leonard Leo, who has legal issues of his own, goes around telling everyone how he has the Legal System RIGGED,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in February. “I hope that’s not true and, if it is, it should be thoroughly looked into.

“Leonard has a big and very dangerous mouth!” he added.

Despite the president’s public anger, it hasn’t stopped his administration from showing up on the speaking circuit at the group’s marquee events.

Later this week, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward is among the speakers for the group’s executive branch summit in the nation’s capital.

And at FedSoc’s annual convention, now-acting Attorney General Todd Blanche joined for a fireside chat. Several other senior department officials across the administration have appeared as well.

Before we jump into the rest of this week’s legal news, one bit of housekeeping from your authors: This is Ella’s last edition, as she embarks on a new career opportunity next month. She’ll still be covering the U.S. legal system, so you can keep up with her on X at @ByEllaLee or send her farewells at elee@thehill.com. She’s looking forward to following The Gavel’s continued growth as a vital source of digestible legal and political news long beyond her tenure. The Gavel will still arrive every Wednesday from Zach.

Welcome to The Gavel, The Hill’s weekly courts newsletter from Ella Lee and Zach Schonfeld. Click above to email us tips, or reach out to us on X (@ByEllaLee, @ZachASchonfeld) or Signal (elee.03, zachschonfeld.48).

Not already on the list? Subscribe here.

IN FOCUS

DOJ's international docket; Reflecting pool's pivotal day

DOJ’s international docket heats up

The Justice Department is increasingly eyeing legal action against powerful individuals outside the bounds of U.S. borders.

The capture and indictment of Nicolás Maduro, the ousted Venezuelan president, may only be the beginning.

Maduro’s toppling came after U.S. forces raided his Caracas compound and removed him to Manhattan for prosecution. He has pleaded not guilty to federal drug and weapons charges.

The country’s new leader — Maduro’s former vice president, Delcy Rodríguez — has cooperated with Trump throughout the transition.

One example: Deporting a close ally of Maduro to face U.S. charges.

Alex Saab, the billionaire former Venezuelan minister of industry, was charged Monday with bribing top officials to steal millions from lucrative contracts.

The single count of money laundering he faces is tied to a decade-old conspiracy to cook books, fake companies and skim off the top of government contracts to import food from Colombia and Mexico.

Saab was charged during the first Trump administration but pardoned by former President Biden in a deal to release imprisoned Americans in Venezuela — a move sharply criticized by Republicans at the time.

Across the Caribbean Sea, all eyes are now on Cuba.

The island was heavily dependent on Venezuelan oil. With Maduro’s capture, Trump has cut Cuba off. The island has experienced weeks of persistent blackouts, and government officials have said they’ve now run out of fuel and diesel.

Cuba’s ambassador to the U.S., Lianys Torres Rivera, told our colleague Rebecca Beitsch in an exclusive interview that it marks “one of the most” difficult times in U.S.-Cuban relations. As her country braces for a potential invasion, she said Cuba is sticking to its red lines.

As questions remain about Trump’s next move, the Justice Department’s eyes are reportedly set on Raúl Castro, former president of Cuba and brother of Fidel Castro.

According to several reports, the Justice Department is weighing charges against Castro in connection with the Cuban government shooting down two planes operated by the Miami-based humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue in 1996. An indictment would require the approval of a grand jury.

Already, Trump has ramped up pressure by sanctioning 11 people the administration claims are “Cuban regime-aligned actors,” including top officials. The State Department said the move aligns with the president’s “comprehensive campaign to address the pressing national security threats posed by Cuba’s communist regime and hold accountable the regime and those who provide it material or financial support.”

But not all powerful foreigners have faced the same treatment.

The Justice Department is at the same time moved to drop U.S. charges against India’s richest man.

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani faces fraud and conspiracy charges, but after he hired a legal team led by one of Trump’s personal lawyers, Robert Giuffra Jr., that reportedly pitched a deal to prosecutors, DOJ said it is changing course.

“The Department of Justice has reviewed this case and has decided, in its prosecutorial discretion, not to devote further resources to these criminal charges against individual defendants,” the Monday filing read.

Pivotal day approaches for Reflecting Pool

The “Parks and Recreation” docket is back.

On Thursday, a federal judge will consider blocking the Trump administration’s Reflecting Pool project. Contractors have been repainting the bottom of the pool, shifting its dark-grey tint to a color described as “American flag blue.”

The Cultural Landscape Foundation says the project failed to undergo environmental and preservation reviews required by federal law. The administration says those claims have no merit.

“It has unfortunately grown increasingly common for the federal government to plow ahead with alterations to our nation’s most sacred spaces without following the law. This is not normal. And it is not ok,” the foundation wrote in court filings.

To get the project blocked so soon, it must convince the judge they will suffer irreparable harm unless he intervenes immediately. To push back, the Justice Department is expected to argue that the repainting is reversible, if needed.

“Nor did Plaintiffs think much about their requested relief: a dark-blue-bottomed Reflecting Pool is aesthetically preferable to one that is dry and empty,” the Justice Department wrote in court filings on Monday.

The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump nominee who sits on the federal bench in the nation’s capital. He’ll convene the parties in his courtroom at 2 p.m. EDT on Thursday.

Trump has expressed immense frustration with unfavorable rulings from other federal judges who sit in Washington, D.C., but Nichols has sided with the administration in several lawsuits.

He joins other judges who’ve been tasked with mulling the legality of Trump’s renovations at a D.C. public golf course, his planned archway, the White House ballroom, the renaming of the Kennedy Center and recent work on the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

The National Park Service (NPS) has described the Reflecting Pool project as an effort to address leaks and improve water quality.

“During the planning for this project, the administration presented an option to address the Reflective Pool’s massive leaking and water clarity issues that my team had not previously considered—the installation of a durable polyurea liner over an epoxy primer,” Kevin Griess, who manages federal parkland in D.C., wrote to the judge on Monday.

SIDEBAR

5 top docket updates

Trump, IRS strike deal: The Justice Department launched a nearly $2 billion “anti-weaponization fund” as part of a settlement after President Trump sued the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for $10 billion.
OpenAI trumps Musk: A California federal jury unanimously rejected Elon Musk’s claims against OpenAI and its co-founder Sam Altman, ending the latest chapter in a nearly decade-long feud between the two technology moguls over the artificial intelligence firm’s non-profit structure.
Mifepristone remains available: Abortion pills can remain available through the mail for the immediate future after the Supreme Court paused a lower court ruling that would have blocked access while a lawsuit proceeds.
VA Dems’ map dead: The Supreme Court refused Virginia Democratic leaders’ emergency plea to reinstate their congressional map in what would’ve been one of the party’s best opportunities to keep pace in the mid-decade redistricting war.
Mangione judge allows key evidence: A judge ruled that a gun and notebook prosecutors say link Luigi Mangione to UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killing may be used as evidence at his murder trial.

In other news

Courthouse rock: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit released a “Schoolhouse Rock”-style music video explaining its role in the judicial system. We’ll leave it there — just watch it.
Judge byline: U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman penned an essay in The Free Press criticizing New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof’s essay about alleged Israeli sex crimes against Palestinian detainees as a miscarriage of journalism.” As Politico’s Josh Gerstein pointed out, Altman is also overseeing Trump’s libel suit against the BBC.
Justice delivered: A woman reportedly gave birth to a baby boy in a Brooklyn courtroom while awaiting her arraignment on drug possession and trespassing charges, which the New York Times reported were likely to be dismissed. The baby was delivered by a court officer.
Court records galore: Lawfare managing editor Tyler McBrien created a field guide to finding state court records using information crowdsourced by WBUR’s Ally Jarmanning, which we’ll all have bookmarked from here on out.

THE ORDER LIST

Cases the Supreme Court is taking up — or passing on — this term.

In: Title IX

The Supreme Court took up one new case this week, Crowther v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia. We previewed it in the last edition.

The justices will decide if school employees, not just students, can file lawsuits under Title IX. The landmark law protects against sex discrimination in schools.

The court will hear an appeal from longtime Georgia Tech women’s basketball coach MaChelle Joseph, who sued after the school terminated her in 2019. Joseph alleges the school provided her inferior resources as compared to the male coaches of the men’s basketball team and the firing amounted to discrimination.

An appeals court ruled that Joseph and former Augusta University art professor Thomas Crowther, who filed a separate Title IX lawsuit, had no right to sue under the law.

The law doesn’t explicitly give them that right, but other courts have ruled it’s implied. The Trump administration says it’s not but told the Supreme Court they should hear the case to resolve the split.

The case will be heard next term.

Out: Another Voting Rights Act fight

A similar issue arose in the fight over Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Some Republican-led states argue the law doesn’t authorize private groups like the NAACP to sue. They say only the government can launch a challenge.

Two prominent cases raising the issue, State Board of Election Commissioners v. Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v. Howe, recently reached the justices’ bench.

On Monday, they told the judges overseeing the cases to take another look in the wake of the justices’ recent blockbuster decision narrowing the Voting Rights Act.

It effectively means the Supreme Court will hold off deciding if private groups have the right to sue.

For decades, the high court has assumed they can, but it hasn’t firmly settled the issue. Some members of the court’s conservative wing have raised interest in the argument.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson publicly dissented from her colleagues’ decision to send the cases back. She said the recent decision “did not address” the issue at hand and the court should’ve ruled that the private groups can sue. saying they should’ve made clear the

“Thus I see no basis for vacating the lower court’s judgment,” Jackson wrote.

Maybe: Minimum wage for immigration detainees

The Supreme Court has asked the Trump administration to weigh in on a dispute involving privately-run immigration facilities before deciding whether to take it up.

The GEO Group, which operates many such facilities, under federal law offers immigrant detainees a voluntary work program in which they can get paid $1 per day.

Washington state and a group of detainees persuaded a lower court that the program is subject to the state’s minimum wage law. As of this year, it increased to $17.13 per hour.

The GEO Group contends that’s unconstitutional. It says the state’s law is preempted and barred by intergovernmental immunity.

The case is The GEO Group v. Nwauzor.

PETITION PILE

Petitions to take up cases that the justices are keeping a close eye on.

Malicious wounding: Virginia wants to reinstate the criminal sentences of Christopher Coleman, who pleaded guilty to malicious wounding and other charges over violent attacks he committed in 2011. Coleman argues he had ineffective counsel in violation of his constitutional rights. State courts rejected his claims. He then turned to the federal courts, but statute limits their ability to intervene. Still, Coleman emerged victorious. Virginia says the lower court erred because it adopted arguments neither side had raised. The case is Walters v. Coleman.
Expert witnesses: The owners of a West Virginia manufacturing plant want to block an expert from testifying who is expected to bolster allegations the plant exposed the public to ethylene oxide and increased their risk of illness. A judge agreed federal evidence rules disallow the expert, but the appeals court reversed. The case is Union Carbide Corporation v. Sommerville

ON THE DOCKET

Don’t be surprised if additional hearings are scheduled throughout the week. But here’s what we’re watching for now:

Today

A federal judge in California is set to hold a pretrial conference in the criminal case of Jonathan Rinderknecht, who is charged with starting the Palisades fire that killed 12 people and decimated thousands of structures.
A pretrial conference is scheduled in Maryland in the civil case against M/V Dali ship owner Grace Ocean Private Limited and operator Synergy Marine over liability for the ship’s 2024 fatal collision with the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Thursday

The Supreme Court is set to announce opinions.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., is set to hold a preliminary injunction hearing in the American Academy of Pediatrics’ lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission over its civil investigative demand for information including any statements on gender-affirming care.
Another D.C. federal judge is set to hold a temporary restraining order hearing in a legal challenge to the Trump administration’s renovations of the Reflecting Pool.
A federal judge in Rhode Island is set to hold a summary judgment hearing in a lawsuit challenging three Trump immigration policies, including holds on requests for asylum.

Friday

A panel of federal judges will hold a preliminary injunction hearing to determine if Alabama Republicans’ congressional map should remain blocked following the Supreme Court’s recent Voting Rights Act decision.

Monday

Federal courts are closed for Memorial Day.

Tuesday

The Supreme Court will announce orders.
A federal judge in New Hampshire is set to hold a hearing over the state’s motion to dismiss the Trump administration’s lawsuit against it for not turning over voter data.