51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� President Donald Trump named four lawyers and judges to fill vacancies on the federal bench here, his first major move to fill lower court vacancies and a victory for U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, who court observers say waited out the Biden administration for years in a gamble to seat more conservative judges.

The four nominees, who Trump announced Tuesday on his family鈥檚 social media site, Truth Social, are expected to face little resistance in the GOP-controlled U.S. Senate.

If confirmed, they would represent a stark change in the judicial makeup of the Eastern District of Missouri by making seven of its eight full-time judges Trump appointees.

The 51黑料 federal court had previously been a mix of Democratic- and Republican-nominated judges, often the result of a compromise if the Missouri鈥檚 senators were of a different party than the president.

Trump鈥檚 nominees have strong conservative r茅sum茅s, including two who worked for Hawley鈥檚 鈥渇ederalism unit鈥� when he was Missouri attorney general and two who are members of the conservative judicial advocacy organization the Federalist Society. Three of them are in their 30s, meaning they could remain on the 51黑料 bench for decades due to the lifetime appointments of federal judges.

They also are among the first nominees to the lower federal courts in Trump鈥檚 second term, said Carl Tobias, professor at the University of Richmond School of Law who closely follows federal court nominations. Other states also have high numbers of vacancies, including conservative ones like Texas and Florida, he said. But Hawley must have been 鈥渞eady to roll.鈥�

鈥淗e鈥檚 been slow because he鈥檚 been cranking out those executive orders and tangling with tariffs,鈥� Tobias said of the president. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a tribute to, probably, Hawley, who prevailed on Trump to do (Missouri judges) earlier.鈥�

Their nominations could finally help ease the workload on the current federal judges in the Eastern District of Missouri. 51黑料鈥� four vacancies on the federal bench made it an outlier in the federal courts.

The , the national policymaking body for the federal courts, designated the four vacancies 鈥渏udicial emergencies鈥� based on the caseload it placed on other judges 鈥� the most of any district court in the country. Three of those judgeships had been vacant more than a year.

Senate tradition allows a state鈥檚 senator to block nominations of judges and keep the Senate Judiciary Committee from even voting on a nominee. Former President Joe Biden鈥檚 office didn鈥檛 nominate even one judge in Missouri, and his administration and 51黑料 Democratic lawyers and political operatives blamed Hawley for refusing to compromise on a 鈥減ackage鈥� of nominees where each party would get someone they wanted.

Hawley, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee since he became a senator in 2019, claimed he had reached a deal with the Biden White House but the administration took no action to nominate judges. Democrats also controlled the Judiciary Committee at the time, but its former chairman, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, allowed the old tradition that let home state senators block a vote on federal judges. Other states with Republican senators reached deals with the Biden White House.

Hawley, in a news release Tuesday, said he had been working closely with President Trump to 鈥渆nsure appointments to Missouri vacancies are prioritized.鈥�

鈥淭his country needs good district court judges now more than ever,鈥� Hawley said. 鈥淲e need judges that are committed to the rule of law and upholding the Constitution, and I鈥檓 ecstatic to see President Trump nominate these outstanding individuals to the federal bench.鈥�

Sen. Eric Schmitt, the state鈥檚 junior senator and also a former Missouri attorney general, joined the Senate Judiciary Committee this year and began working with Trump鈥檚 transition team in the fall to craft a list of potential nominees for the 51黑料 federal court.

Schmitt applauded the nominations, noting all four worked for him when he served as attorney general. 鈥淭hey are each of the highest integrity and qualification,鈥� Schmitt said on X. 鈥淭he Eastern District of Missouri will be in firm, constitutionalist hands for the next generation.鈥�

President Trump鈥檚 four nominees are:

• Joshua Divine, the current solicitor general of Missouri under Attorney General Andrew Bailey, Hawley鈥檚 former chief counsel and a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Divine is a graduate of Yale Law School and worked for Hawley鈥檚 鈥渇ederalism unit鈥� when Hawley briefly served as Missouri鈥檚 attorney general.
• Maria Lanahan, deputy solicitor general in Attorney General Andrew Bailey鈥檚 office, joining the office while Eric Schmitt 鈥� now Missouri鈥檚 junior U.S. senator who joined the Senate Judiciary Committee this year 鈥攚as attorney general. She attended the University of Chicago School of Law and clerked for the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and was also a lawyer with 51黑料 firm Thompson Coburn.
• Cristian Stevens, a judge for the Missouri Court of Appeals, appointed in 2021 by former Gov. Mike Parson, and a former top aide to Schmitt when he was attorney general. Stevens attended the University of Missouri School of Law and clerked for the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, then worked as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 Office for the Eastern District of Missouri for 15 years. He was raised in St. Charles, is a member of the Federalist Society and led the federal investigation into the 2014 police killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson.
• Zachary Bluestone, currently an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Missouri focused on violent crimes. He also was a member of the Federalist Society and came to work for the Missouri Attorney General when Hawley took office in 2017, working alongside Divine in Hawley鈥檚 鈥渇ederalism unit.鈥� Bluestone graduated from Harvard Law School and clerked for the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Bailey, who succeeded Schmitt as attorney general, noted that two of the nominees are currently employees of the Missouri Attorney General鈥檚 office.

鈥淭his is a proud moment for our office and the state of Missouri,鈥� Bailey said in a statement. 鈥淛osh (Divine) and Maria (Lanahan) are two of the finest legal minds in America. Their work has set the gold standard for legal excellence, and their nominations are a testament to the powerhouse team we have built in Missouri.鈥�

Mike Wolff, a retired Missouri Supreme Court judge, said the new federal judges could make 51黑料 an attractive venue for conservative groups to file precedent-setting lawsuits, such as the Northern District of Texas has been. Hawley鈥檚 wife, Erin Hawley, was a key lawyer in the case against common abortion drug mifepristone that chose the Texas court for its challenge. And the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that is based in 51黑料 is also very conservative, Wolff said.

鈥淧eople won鈥檛 have to run to Texas,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey have themselves a whole bench here and the 8th Circuit.鈥�

Updated Wednesday, May 7, with additional details and reaction.(tncms-asset)0765373f-4539-5887-9bfc-7bab3daf4ffa[2](/tncms-asset)