Senate Confirms Extreme Trump Judges to Missouri Federal Courts

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 22, 2025 – Today the Senate voted to confirm two judges to Missouri’s federal district courts: Joshua Divine and Cristian Stevens. Both have egregiously extreme records and will undermine the rights of the people of Missouri.

Joshua Divine has built his career advancing a dangerous conservative agenda, undermining firearm protections, student loan debt relief, LGBTQ+ rights, abortion access, and voting rights. He has even expressed interest in bringing back literacy tests for voting, despite their unconstitutionality and history of racist use to disenfranchise voters.

Cristian Stevens has a disturbing record of skepticism toward racial justice, including defending harsh sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine, which have received bipartisan condemnation for the racial disparities they create in the criminal legal system. He has also consistently ruled against workers with disabilities or who have been injured on the job.

Alliance for Justice President Rachel Rossi issued the following statement:

“Today is a sad day for the people of Missouri. It’s incredibly upsetting to see Republican senators voting in lockstep for lifetime federal judges who have such extreme anti-justice records. Joshua Divine and Cristian Stevens stand to harm many people, but fealty to Trump appears to be the priority as always. Every single senator who voted for Divine is going to have to reconcile the fact that in 2025 they voted for a judge who supports literacy tests at the polls, harkening back to Jim Crow-era disenfranchisement.  We must not miss an opportunity to block these unfit Trump nominees in every way we can.”