President Trump Is Transforming The 9th Circuit

President Donald Trump named two nominees for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, tapping a federal prosecutor and a conservative appellate lawyer for the west coast court. The nominees, Patrick Bumatay and Lawrence VanDyke, are likely to elicit strong opposition for Democrats. 

If confirmed, the pair would raise the number of Trump’s 9th Circuit appointees to nine, with one other nomination pending. Trump has clashed frequently with the 9th Circuit, which upheld injunctions against top administration policy priorities like the travel ban. 

His criticisms drew a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts, who rejected Trump’s charge that judges are sometimes motivated by politics. Friday’s nomination is the latest twist in Bumatay’s meandering path to the federal bench. 

Trump nominated Bumatay to the 9th Circuit in October 2018 over the objections of California Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, but his nomination lapsed with the end of the previous Congress. 

Thereafter, Trump nominated Bumatay to a federal trial court in southern California. That nomination was pending before the Senate until Friday, when the president changed course and named Bumatay to the 9th Circuit.