Federal Judge Nominee CONFIRMED By Senate

The Senate voted on Tuesday to confirm a federal judge appointed by President Trump.

In a 52-45 vote, the upper chamber confirmed Maria Lanahan, the principal deputy solicitor general in the Missouri attorney general’s office, to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

According to Reuters, the confirmation makes the St. Louis court a “conservative stronghold.”

BREAKING: US Senate CONFIRMS President Trump judicial nominee Maria A. Lanahan to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri, 52-45.

Time to cancel out activist judges, NATIONWIDE. pic.twitter.com/nBc8C85gL5

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) September 9, 2025

“Maria Lanahan is an experienced attorney of the highest intellectual and moral quality who will make a fantastic judge for years to come. During my tenure as Missouri AG, I was deeply impressed by her work, wealth of knowledge, and tireless devotion to the Constitution and the rule of law. Thank you, President Trump, for prioritizing Missouri’s judicial bench and nominating excellent candidates to serve! I’m glad to see my colleagues in the Senate swiftly confirm all four of President Trump’s nominees for the Eastern District of Missouri,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) said.

More from Reuters:

While working in the attorney general’s office, she had helped litigate an ongoing case seeking to curtail access to the abortion medication mifepristone and defended Missouri’s strict abortion ban against a legal challenge.

The Senate’s vote in favor of Lanahan marked the culmination of a years-long effort by the state’s Republican senators Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt to shift the ideological balance of Missouri’s Eastern District to the right.

Those senators championed four conservative nominees who Trump put forward in May as his first trial court picks of his second term to fill vacancies that had opened up during Democratic President Joe Biden’s tenure when four judges appointed by Democratic presidents announced plans to retire or leave active service.

Biden never nominated anyone to fill those seats, which would have needed the support of both Hawley and Schmitt because of the Senate’s so-called “blue slip” custom that requires a district court nominee to have the support of both of his or her home state senators to be considered.

According to prior reports, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Republicans intend to change the upper chamber’s rules to speed up the process of confirming President Trump’s executive branch nominees.

BREAKING: Senate Leader John Thune is set to invoke the “NUCLEAR OPTION” as soon as TOMORROW to finally ram through President Trump’s nominees, per Daily Caller.

This would change Senate rules to allow through over 100 Trump nominees much quicker.

DO IT, NO MORE WAITING! pic.twitter.com/11fG71SPxr

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) September 7, 2025

Daily Caller explained:

Senate Republicans are on the verge of breaking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s stranglehold over the confirmation process, ending seven months of unprecedented obstruction that has sought to prevent President Donald Trump from staffing his administration.

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune is expected to invoke the rarely-used “nuclear option” to reform Senate rules allowing for the simultaneous confirmation of lower-level executive branch nominees as early as Monday, a senior Republican aide told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The historic rules change could grant the more than 100 civilian nominees who have been blocked from their postings due to Democrats’ persistent delay tactics a swift confirmation vote before the Senate is scheduled to go on recess on Sept. 19.

Thune has warned since July that Republicans would move to reform the upper chamber rules to circumvent Democrats’ nomination blockade if Schumer did not agree to speed up the confirmation process. The majority leader has worked to find consensus among his conference over the past several weeks to move forward with changing Senate rules.

Thune organized a working group in August after negotiations with Democrats to clear the backlog of executive branch nominees collapsed. The cohort included Republican Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Ted Budd of North Carolina.