This latest round of picks brings the total number of judicial nominations made by Trump so far in his second term to six.
President Donald Trump announced a slate of judicial nominations on May 6 to serve on courts in both Missouri and the District of Columbia, building on his first nomination from last week.
Trump said in Truth Social posts that he was nominating Joshua Divine, Zachary Bluestone, Maria Lanahan, and Cristian Stevens to serve as judges on the U.S. District Court in Missouri.
Divine, who currently serves as the solicitor general of Missouri, previously worked as chief counsel to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). Trump said that Divine “knows what is required to protect the Rule of Law and Constitutional Rights for the Great People of Missouri.”
Bluestone is an appellate chief and a violent-crimes prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in St. Louis. In announcing Bluestone’s nomination, Trump praised him as a “true legal warrior.”
Lanahan currently serves as Missouri’s principal deputy solicitor general, while Stevens is a judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals. Trump described both as true patriots.
In a statement, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey welcomed Trump’s nominations of Divine and Lanahan, both of whom are members of his legal team.
“Josh and Maria 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,” he stated.Trump also nominated Edward Aloysius O’Connell to serve as associate judge on the Superior Court of the District Court of Columbia. He stated that O’Connell has worked as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia for nearly two decades.
“D.C. could, and should, be a wonderful place, if political hacks would stop making such terrible decisions,” Trump stated in a Truth Social post. “I know Eddie will help make everyone much safer.”
O’Connell also serves as the chief of staff and deputy general counsel to the inspector general for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, according to his biography.
Trump made his first judicial nomination of his second term on May 1, naming Whitney Hermandorfer to serve as a judge on the Cincinnati-based Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Hermandorfer currently serves as director of the Strategic Litigation Unit at Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office in a role that focuses on spearheading constitutional, statutory, and administrative-law challenges to federal agency action, as well as on defending the state in “complex matters” at both the trial and appellate level, according to her bio.
The appointments will require Senate approval.
During his first term, the Senate confirmed 234 of Trump’s judicial nominees, including three members of the Supreme Court.
Katabella Roberts contributed to this report.