President Donald Trump is poised to tweak the makeup of a federal appeals court that has emerged as a key battleground for groups protesting the administration’s efforts to roll back environmental protections.
The Senate Judiciary Committee could vote soon on Trump’s nominee for a seat on the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If confirmed, Joshua Dunlap, a partner at the Maine law firm Pierce Atwood, would be the only active judge on the 1st Circuit appointed by a Republican president.
The New England district courts that make up the 1st Circuit have emerged as a go-to for Trump challengers, and the appellate court — the smallest in the country — has in several cases rejected the government’s request to lift lower court injunctions blocking administration efforts.
“If you are litigating and you file in a district court that is covered by the 1st Circuit you can be certain your appellate panel will be either entirely Democratic appointed or a majority Democratic appointed and you can’t say that about any other circuit in the country,” said Michael Yelnosky, a law professor at the Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island.
