Tomorrow, people across the nation will show up in their communities to send a clear message: In America, power belongs to the people — not to wannabe kings and their cronies who seek to make them royalty.
Trump’s aspirations are not a secret, and they have become more egregious during his second term. Last year, just a month after his inauguration, he posted a message about himself, declaring “LONG LIVE THE KING!” — and he has surrounded himself with allies who will do his bidding from the positions of power he bestows on them.
Justin Smith, who Trump nominated last month to a Missouri seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, is just the latest of Trump’s personal lawyers to receive a significant nomination or appointment. The list includes Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Solicitor General John Sauer, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, White House Counsel David Warrington, and White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf.
It also includes MAGA extremist Emil Bove, who is now serving a lifetime appointment as a judge on the Third Circuit. Bove, Blanche, and the James Otis Law Group — which was founded by Sauer and is now co-owned by Smith — all appear together on several briefs submitted to the Supreme Court. Trump wants Smith to join Bove on the appellate bench because Smith, whose LinkedIn states that he is “an attorney and strategist who fights for conservative values,” is also an attorney who fights for Trump and his ability to reign as king.
Since joining the James Otis Law Group in 2023, Smith has served as Trump’s personal lawyer in two high-profile cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. The first was Trump v. United States (2024), in which the Court held that the president has absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for all “official” actions taken within their constitutional authority. Smith played a central role in the case, taking primary responsibility for drafting the merits briefs and leading the preparation for oral argument. In his Truth Social post announcing Smith’s nomination, Trump recognized Smith’s significant contribution, stating that “Justin…played a BIG role in securing a Supreme Court Landmark Victory on Presidential Immunity.”
Smith is also currently serving as the attorney of record for Trump in his effort to have the Supreme Court overturn the $83.3 million civil judgment entered against him in the sexual abuse and defamation case brought by journalist E. Jean Carroll. While acting in this capacity, Smith has engaged in some truly reprehensible behavior. In his petition for certiorari to the Court, Smith alleged that Carroll lied about the sexual assault and based her narrative on the storyline of a 2012 Law and Order: SVU episode. Smith egregiously misrepresented the events portrayed in the episode to better match up with Carroll’s account.
Smith’s nomination to the Eighth Circuit is almost certainly a result of his demonstrated willingness to bend the facts on Trump’s behalf. And it is part of a disturbing trend of Trump rewarding his personal attorneys, White House lawyers, and loyalists at the DOJ with powerful positions in the judiciary.
During his second term to date, Trump has nominated DOJ lawyer Brian Lea and White House lawyers like Jennifer Mascott and Kara Westercamp to serve as lifetime federal judges. Mascott, who is now serving on the Third Circuit with Bove, has even promoted a king-like vision of presidential authority, including immunity from criminal accountability. In a 2024 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Trump v. United States, she asserted that the Court’s decision was “essential [for] the president to be able to do his job” and warned against “subject[ing] him to criminal prosecution for doing his job.”
But it goes beyond that. All 40 lifetime judicial nominees who have appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee since last year have demonstrated their loyalty to Trump by refusing to say he lost the 2020 election, and they have all dodged simple questions related to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and American democracy. Smith, who will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee next month for his confirmation hearing, will be asked these questions as well — and there is no reason to expect he will respond any differently.
Let’s be clear: Trump, who constantly attacks judges and justices who rule against him, is choosing judicial nominees for their unfettered loyalty to him and his extreme agenda — even at the expense of adherence to the rule of law and the Constitution. And many of his nominees also share long histories with the same billionaire-funded, far-right groups that are actively working to gut civil rights protections, dilute voting rights, cut off access to reproductive care, and hurt some of the most preyed-upon communities in the country.
Justin Smith, with his record of hostility to reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, workers’ rights, and more, has been complicit in this shameful goal.
Today, as the judiciary is frequently the last backstop to halt the Trump administration’s unlawful actions, the seating of dangerous loyalist judges poses an even deeper threat to our democracy. Justin Smith has proven that he believes Trump is royalty who stands above the law — but in America, we have no kings. And those who believe we should — like Justin Smith — have no business serving in our judiciary.
Alex Perron is a Dorot Fellow at Alliance for Justice.
Patrick McNeil is the founder of Nomination Notes, where he covers federal judicial nominations.