Trump to name Arizona judge to 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump will nominate U.S. Magistrate Judge Bridget Shelton Bade of Arizona for an open seat on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the White House said Monday.
Trump has largely avoided the 9th Circuit so far in his bid to reshape the judiciary because the Western district includes several states with two Democratic senators who could try to block his choice. In other parts of the country, he's filled dozens of circuit court vacancies in states with Republican senators.
Arizona's Republican senators, the late Sen. John McCain, who died Saturday, and Sen. Jeff Flake, have a history of clashes with Trump, but a White House official _ who was not authorized to speak on the record _ said Monday that Bade was recommended by the senators' judicial selection committee and that opposition is not expected.
Flake's office did not return an email seeking comment on Bade. Flake is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Bade was chosen to be a magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court of Arizona in 2012. She previously worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in Arizona and in private practice. Bade is a graduate of Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law.
The Arizona seat on the 9th Circuit has been empty since Judge Barry Silverman took a reduced workload in October 2016.
About two-thirds of the remaining appeals court vacancies nationwide are on the 9th Circuit, and at some point Trump will turn his attention westward and try to fill vacancies in states with Democratic senators.
Trump's nominee in Idaho, Ryan D. Nelson, has the support of the state's Republican senators and is expected to be confirmed.
_Los Angeles Times
