The painful reality is that Dems have a lot to learn from the Trump admin about judicial nominations process. Not just in a fight-fire-with-fire sense, either. Judgeships are critical, and McGahn/Leo/etc approached nominations with appropriate urgency. Biden must too. 1/

McGahn spoke about Trump's circuit-nominations process in Philly at a 2019 Fedsoc event. I attended. Here's video of the complete talk. 2/ https://twitter.com/fedjudges/status/1192444292037586944

McGahn emphasized how Trump approached nominations differently than prior administrations. What he said is illuminating. 3/

"Judgeships are not patronage jobs," he said. McGahn's office listened to Senators, but "when it came down to decision time, my office made the recommendations."

Judgeships are not patronage jobs. 4/

McGahn also emphasized that, with 60 votes no longer required, the old playbook of favoring candidates without a paper trail was out the window.

"Robust paper trails are precisely why" the picked the circuit nominees they picked. 5/

McGahn made the point with admirable clarity. They flatly rejected the old approach of avoiding candidates who'd taken positions on controversial issues. Instead, their nominees "MUST have stood for principles and paid the price." 6/

McGahn gave Third Circuit Judge Porter as an example of a judge who'd stood for principles and paid a price, explaining that he'd written op-eds on controversial legal issues like Ashcroft's nomination and the constitutionality of the ACA. 7/

McGahn also noted that Porter had written about originalism and federalism and had served on the board of a college that refused to accept federal funds to maintain its independence (from Title IV anti-discrimination stds). "He is not shy." 8/

Again, it wasn't that McGahn was willing to consider nominees *despite* a controversial paper trail. They "actively sought out" nominees who'd stood for principles and paid a price. They thought it "important" to "send a message" that they wouldn't shy away from nominees ... /9

... who'd taken public positions on controversial issues, but to the contrary "welcomed" such candidates. A candidate's "toughness in the face of unfair media characterizations," McGahn said, was "a principal reason" he was nominated. 10/

McGahn summarized their 4 Third Circuit nominees like this—average age of 48.5, smart, circuit clerks, and "tough ... not afraid to take unpopular or controversial positions."

Biden's nominations team should pay careful attention to McGahn's approach. /end