U.S. President Donald Trump reacts during an event to make announcements on fertility treatment coverage, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 16, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Washington Monthly contributing editor Jonathan Alter says you can’t be surprised that the kind of judges a convicted felon nominates are not the cream of the crop. But you can be surprised how low the bar keeps sinking.
“If only President [Donald] Trump’s judicial nominees were merely mediocre, like most of those in his first term. Now, Trump is nominating candidates for federal judgeships who run away from the very Constitution they will, if confirmed, swear to apply and uphold,” said Alter.
Alter said watching Trump judicial nominee G.E. Marck flee the elementary school admission that yes, a president is indeed limited to two terms, was a punch in the gut.
“Is [Trump] eligible to run for a third term under our Constitution?” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) asked Marck directly during recent nomination hearings.
“I would have to review the actual wording of it,” Marck answered.
When a startled Coons asked other Trump nominees to confirm that the Constitution undeniably bars a third term for Trump, he got silence.
“The Orwellian obtuseness about basic facts is a defining feature of the Trump Administration,” said Alter, referring to Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) asking Trump nominee, Michael Hendershot: “Was the Capitol attacked on January 6?”
Hendershot replied: “It’s a matter of significant political controversy,” despite videos revealing the full color of the attack.
“Like earlier Trump nominees to the federal bench and other posts, Marck, Hendershot and two other Trump nominees for the U.S. District Court — Arthur Jones, and Jeffrey Kuntz — all refused to say Joe Biden won the election,” said Alter. “Instead, they used the same stock phrase their White House handlers insisted upon: ‘President Biden was certified the winner.’”
Alter pointed out that even Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), thought their response was stupid, mumbling, “What would be wrong if they said Biden won?”
But Alter said Blumenthal told the “the cowering, gutless nominees” exactly why they couldn’t say the obvious:
“You’re unwilling to use that word [won] because you are afraid,’ said Blumenthal. “Afraid of what? President Trump? That is exactly what we do not need on the federal bench today. We need jurists who are fearless and strong, not weak and pathetic.”
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I) was even more direct:
“I hope you realize how ridiculous the four of you look spouting these preposterous, canned answers in a forum in which you’re supposed to tell the truth and you’re supposed to demonstrate the judicial capacity to make independent factual decisions in hard cases,” Whitehouse said.