Friend,
The Senate just filed cloture on Justin Smith’s nomination. That means his confirmation vote before the full Senate could happen as soon as tomorrow.
Smith is not simply another conservative judicial nominee. He is a committed Trump loyalist. He’s Donald Trump’s personal attorney, helping him appeal his loss in the E. Jean Carroll case. And he was part of the legal team that got the Supreme Court to give him immunity from prosecution for trying to steal the 2020 election.
He is exactly the kind of nominee Trump wants on the federal bench: loyal, evasive, and unwilling to tell the truth when it is inconvenient for the MAGA movement.
At his confirmation hearing, Smith was asked a question no nominee for a lifetime seat on the federal bench should struggle to answer: Who won the 2020 election?
He would not say Joe Biden won, even when given multiple opportunities to do so.
Instead, Smith hid behind the same poisonous dodge used by election deniers and Trump collaborators who want to sanitize the Big Lie without saying it out loud: Biden was “certified” as the winner.
That answer should end his nomination.
Add your name now: tell the Senate to reject Justin Smith before it is too late. >>
A lifetime federal judgeship carries enormous power. Federal judges can shape the law for decades, ruling on voting rights, civil rights, reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ equality, workers’ rights, presidential power, election disputes, and abuses of authority by the government itself.
And Trump wants to hand that power to someone who refused to acknowledge the plain reality that Trump lost the 2020 election.
That is the problem. Smith is being nominated because Trump and Senate Republicans want judges who understand the assignment: protect the MAGA agenda, excuse abuses of power, and stay loyal to Trump even when the Constitution gets in the way.
That’s exactly what Smith has already done as Trump’s lawyer. He helped come up with the dangerous presidential immunity argument that kept Trump from being held accountable for his efforts to undo the 2020 election. Now he’s using the same logic to undo the E. Jean Carroll verdict under the same presidential immunity case.
Taken together, the warning could not be clearer: Smith refused to acknowledge Trump lost, and he has already shown a willingness to embrace legal arguments that could help protect Trump’s abuses of power.
That is exactly why Trump and Senate Republicans are rushing him toward confirmation. They are not looking for independence. They are looking for collaborators.
Sign the petition now demanding the Senate reject Justin Smith. >>
Trump already tried to overturn an election. He already showed the country what he will do when courts, lawyers, and public officials are willing – or unwilling – to bend the law for him. Now he is trying to stack the federal judiciary with nominees who could bend the knee the next time he demands loyalty over the Constitution.
Justin Smith gave senators every reason to believe that when the next democracy-defining case reaches his courtroom, he will not be an independent check on Trump’s power. He will be exactly what Trump nominated him to be.
We cannot let the Senate pretend it does not know what is happening.
A nominee who cannot say Biden won the 2020 election – and who has already Trump helped Trump subvert the law – cannot be trusted to defend democracy from the bench. A nominee who will not demonstrate independence from Trump cannot be trusted with our rights and freedoms. And a Senate that confirms him anyway will be choosing complicity with its eyes wide open.
The vote could happen as soon as tomorrow. That means we have no time to waste.
Add your name now: tell the Senate to reject Justin Smith’s nomination. >>
With unwavering solidarity and determination,
People For the American Way
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