President Trump announced Tuesday his first tranche of new judicial nominees for 2018, following a record-breaking year for the president with federal appeals court judges confirmed to the bench.
Trump said he intends to send to the Senate one nominee to the federal appeals court, John Nalbandian, to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and eight nominees to U.S. district courts.
The latest wave of judicial nominees — the 10th since Trump has taken office — includes Wendy Vitter, the wife of former Sen. David Vitter, R-La., to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and Maureen Ohlhausen, acting chair of the Federal Trade Commission, to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Trump also selected one nominee, Courtney Jones, to the U.S. Tax Court, and another, Joseph Falvey, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.
Trump closed out 2017 with 12 federal appeals court judges confirmed, the most any president has had confirmed by the Senate during the first year in office.
Neither the White House nor the Senate have indicated they plan to slow down the pace of Trump’s judicial nominees this year.
Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved 17 nominees to the federal courts in a move that was rebuked by critics of the president. The nominees appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee for confirmation hearings last year, and most were approved by the panel but not voted on by the full Senate.
Trump took office with more than 100 vacancies in the federal courts, and 145 vacancies remain, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
