As we were warning earlier, it looked like the White House was going behind Trump’s back to make a deal with California Democrats on appointments to the Ninth Circuit.

Feinstein and Harris did a drive-by smear of Kavanaugh. Their reward? The WH is now giving them final say over Ninth Circuit nominees. And a time when GOP finally has a decent Senate majority. The President signed off on this?

https://t.co/AJVW8VeUjL via @WSJOpinion — Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) January 30, 2019







Well Trump just announced his appointments and Dems are going to be crying a lot over it:

Kudos to President Trump on Ninth Circuit nominations of Daniel Collins, Daniel Bress, and Kenneth Lee. — Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) January 31, 2019

Patrick Bumatay, previously nominated to Ninth Circuit, will now be nominated to federal district court (Southern District of California). — Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) January 31, 2019

Both Daniel Bress and Daniel Collins are former Scalia clerks. — Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) January 31, 2019

No idea why decision was made not to renominate Bumatay, but Bress is excellent, so worries about White House cave have proven to be unfounded. — Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) January 31, 2019

To clarify: Bumatay is being renominated, but to district-court seat rather than Ninth Circuit. — Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) January 31, 2019

So it’s not a total victory, but pretty close:

Told by a reliable source that the WH has reached a deal w Dems on this and intends to renominate two of the three judges -- Collins and Lee -- but not Bumatay, who will be nominated to the district court. https://t.co/GE3T6qW92n — Eliana Johnson (@elianayjohnson) January 30, 2019

The White House has now officially nominated two of the theee nominees it had pulled, swapping in Dan Bress for Patrick Bumatay. This is a disappointment to some because Bumatay is Filipino, and conservatives are trying to increase the number of minorities on the circuit court. https://t.co/N5OMJtMTs4 — Eliana Johnson (@elianayjohnson) January 31, 2019

Very good. Read our previous post on this…