President Trump is expected to begin filling more than 120 openings on lower federal courts with the announcement of 10 judicial nominees Monday, The New York Times reports. Two of the expected appointees' names also appeared on Trump's public list of 21 potential Supreme Court nominees from during his campaign: Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen, to be nominated to the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, and Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras, to be nominated to the Eighth Circuit in St. Louis.
"Trump will name three other nominees to the appellate courts," Politico adds. "Amy Coney Barrett to the 7th Circuit, John Bush to the Sixth Circuit and Kevin Newsom to the 11th Circuit. The president also plans to name four federal District Court nominees: Dabney Friedrich in the District of Columbia, Terry Moorer in Alabama, David Nye in Idaho and Scott Palk in Oklahoma, as well as Damien Schiff to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims."
Case Western Reserve University law professor Jonathan Adler said of the choices: "There are plenty of things about this president and this administration that are unconventional [but] thus far, the Trump administration's judicial nominees have been in line with what you would expect from a Republican president."
Subsequent waves of judicial announcements should be expected from the administration, a White House official said.