Judicial nominations, 2017–2020

The first-term nomination record

President Donald Trump's first-term judicial nominations included appointments to the Supreme Court and courts of appeals, alongside district and other court proposals that ended without confirmation. Wikipedia records Supreme Court nomination proceedings in 2017 and 2020 within its account of Trump's judicial nominations. The selected records preserve the court and final action for each first-term proposal. They include appellate, district and Court of Federal Claims nominations, which should be read in light of the different offices involved.

Supreme Court consideration

Trump announced Neil Gorsuch as his Supreme Court choice on January 31, 2017, and formally transmitted the nomination to the Senate on February 1, 2017, according to Wikipedia's account of Trump's judicial nominations. The distinction separates the public announcement from the submission that began Senate consideration. Committee hearings and a committee recommendation preceded floor action. Gorsuch's nomination concerned the Supreme Court vacancy discussed on the page about the vacancy and its nomination sequence.

During the Gorsuch proceedings, the Republican Senate majority used a procedural ruling to extend simple-majority cloture to Supreme Court nominations, as Wikipedia describes. That extension concerned ending debate on a nomination, rather than the confirmation vote itself. Gorsuch was confirmed on April 7, 2017, by 54–45, according to Wikipedia's record of the Senate vote. The completed appointment followed the committee and floor sequence despite the dispute over consideration of the vacancy's earlier nomination.

The Senate later confirmed Brett Kavanaugh on October 6, 2018, by 50–48, as Wikipedia records in its account of first-term Supreme Court appointments. Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett on September 26, 2020, and the Senate confirmed her on October 26, 2020, by 52–48, according to the same nomination account. These completed appointments were different outcomes from the returned and withdrawn proposals in the selected table. The floor tallies identify confirmation decisions, distinct from the preceding committee recommendations and cloture votes.

Early appellate confirmations

Amul Thapar's nomination supplied an early example of the appellate sequence. Trump nominated him to the Sixth Circuit on March 21, 2017, and the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on April 26, 2017, as Wikipedia's Thapar entry records. The entry also identifies an American Bar Association qualification rating and the committee's subsequent recommendation. Those steps provided distinct parts of Senate consideration: a professional rating, public questioning and a committee decision. They did not themselves supply the Senate's final consent.

The Senate invoked cloture on Thapar by 52–48 on May 24, 2017, then confirmed him by 52–44 on May 25, 2017, and he received his commission that day, according to Wikipedia's record of his appellate appointment. John K. Bush was also nominated to the Sixth Circuit, on May 8, 2017, and had a committee hearing on June 14, 2017, as Wikipedia's Bush entry states. On July 19, 2017, cloture passed on his nomination by 51–48; confirmation followed the next day by 51–47, and his commission was dated July 21, 2017, according to the same entry. These sequences distinguish nomination, hearing, debate closure, confirmation and commission.

Home-state consultation and blue slips

Committee consideration also involved the treatment of home-state senators' blue slips. Wikipedia describes a blue slip as the Judiciary Committee's form for requesting those senators' views on a proposed federal judge in its account of the blue-slip practice. Senators could return favorable or unfavorable views or leave the form unreturned. The committee's handling of these responses affected whether it proceeded with a nominee, while a blue slip itself remained different from the full Senate's confirmation decision.

For the policy beginning January 3, 2018, Wikipedia records that a circuit nominee could receive a hearing without favorable blue slips when the White House had consulted home-state senators, in its history of the practice. The entry describes a different expectation for district nominees, whose hearings remained unlikely without positive returns. The distinction concerned how the committee processed appellate and district nominations. It did not mean that home-state views disappeared from the record or that a committee hearing guaranteed confirmation. The page about blue slips, holds and home-state senators explains the separate procedural tools.

The Court of Federal Claims

The selected table also contains Court of Federal Claims nominations. Wikipedia describes that court as hearing monetary claims against the United States, including claims seeking compensation for property taken by the government, in its account of the Court of Federal Claims. This jurisdiction connects its work with the law of takings compensation. Its judges received presidential appointments subject to Senate consent and served fixed terms, with eligibility for reappointment, according to Wikipedia's account of the court's judges. The selected records identify unsuccessful proposals for those offices without treating them as life-tenured circuit appointments. The appointment process overview explains the broader sequence from a proposed appointment to Senate action and a commission.

Selected first-term nominations that ended without confirmation, as Wikipedia records them.

Nominee	Court	Nominated	Outcome
Ryan Bounds.	9th Cir.	Nominated September 7, 2017, as Wikipedia records.	Withdrawn by President Trump on July 24, 2018, according to Wikipedia.
Halil Suleyman Ozerden.	5th Cir.	Nominated June 24, 2019, as Wikipedia records.	Returned to the president on January 3, 2020, according to Wikipedia.
Thomas Farr.	E.D.N.C.	Nominated July 13, 2017, as Wikipedia records.	Returned to the president on January 3, 2019, according to Wikipedia.
Brett Talley.	M.D. Ala.	Nominated September 7, 2017, as Wikipedia records.	Returned to the president on January 3, 2018, according to Wikipedia.
Jeff Mateer.	E.D. Tex.	Nominated September 7, 2017, as Wikipedia records.	Returned to the president on January 3, 2018, according to Wikipedia.
Damien M. Schiff.	Fed. Cl.	Nominated May 8, 2017, as Wikipedia records.	Returned to the president on January 3, 2018, according to Wikipedia.
Maureen Ohlhausen.	Fed. Cl.	Nominated January 24, 2018, as Wikipedia records.	Returned to the president on January 3, 2019, according to Wikipedia.
Daniel Z. Epstein.	Fed. Cl.	Nominated June 24, 2019, as Wikipedia records.	Withdrawn by President Trump on December 17, 2020, according to Wikipedia.