In Donald Trump’s telling, he has to win every election for his own ego. It’s good for America too, he’d argue, but that’s not really the point. (Or the truth.) So to assure his future well-being, he is working to stack the system with judges who will rule for him under the guise of preserving election integrity whenever he or his allies are questioned, and whose very presence—mostly white and mostly male—will resonate with his MAGA base.

Of the 34 individuals Trump nominated for lifetime judicial appointments in the first year of his second term, 26 were male, 31 were white, zero were women of color and zero added professional diversity to the bench— certainly no defense attorneys or non-profit types.

Twenty-six were confirmed.

Beyond their nominations reflecting Trump’s wish to Make America White Again, there is a noticeable unanimity across these candidates in their responses to questions about the 2020 presidential election in their Senate confirmation hearings, as though they’d been coached. (Trump, of course, remains fixated on cementing his alleged victory in 2020, an election he says was rigged.)

When Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal at a hearing late last year asked three nominees, lawyers nominated to be federal district judges by Donald Trump, whether the Capitol was attacked on January 6, they refused to answer. Each instead parroted a standard remark—that President Biden was certified as the winner, leaving open the question of whether the actual result was in doubt and ensuring they remain in good standing with the president who had nominated them.

Some have direct ties to........

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