COURTS/GOP/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “For many of Donald Trump’s most ardent supporters, there has been no issue more important than stacking the federal bench with conservative judges. Many on the right are now fearing a retreat. Concerns began to mount after the Wall Street Journal editorial board on Tuesday [1-29-19] published an editorial accusing the White House of negotiating with California’s Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, to come up with a compromise list of nominees to the liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, long a bogeyman to conservatives. Within 24 hours, the paper’s editorial had ricocheted across the right and sparked an outcry about another Trump surrender…Conservatives like Hewitt are focusing their anger on the new White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, who the Journal alleges has been leading negotiations with Feinstein and Harris. Cipollone’s predecessor, Don McGahn, made judicial nominations his top priority, helping to push through 29 federal circuit court nominees and put two Supreme Court justices on the bench.”
–Eliana Johnson and Marianne Levine, “Conservatives fear Trump will surrender on key judicial nominees,” Politico, January 30, 2019 7:55 pm