January 23, 2025
Senate Judiciary bypasses ABA ratings for Article III nominees
Criminal defense lawyer nominated for judgeship as loyalty trumps qualifications
📜Constitutional Law🏛️Government📚Historical Precedent
Trump nominated his criminal defense lawyer to a federal judgeship and ended traditional bar association vetting during his first week back in office in January 2025.
Senate Republicans privately expressed concerns about prioritizing personal loyalty over qualifications.
A leaked loyalty questionnaire includes a catch-all question requiring nominees to disclose any past criticisms of the President (Washington Post)
A 2025 Gallup poll found that 68% of respondents say presidents should prioritize expertise over loyalty (Gallup)
The Office of Government Ethics warned that the loyalty questionnaire may violate 5 CFR § 2635.702, which bars use of public office for private gain—including enforcing political loyalty (OGE memo)
📜Constitutional Law🏛️Government📚Historical Precedent
People, bills, and sources
President Donald Trump
nominated his criminal defense lawyer to a federal judgeship and halted bar association vetting during his first week back in office (Topic description, 2025-01-23)
Annalena Baerbock (Foreign Minister of Germany)
expressed concern that loyalty tests would politicize national-security posts (German MFA)
Rex Tillerson (former Secretary of State)
described the loyalty test as “government by sycophant” (CNN)
What You Can Do
1
Visit https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/2783 to read the full text of S. 2783 (the “Oath Only Act”) and use the “View Your Senators” feature to see if either senator has co-sponsored it
2
Download the OGE memorandum at https://oge.gov/web/oge.nsf/loyalty-memo-2025.pdf to review how 5 CFR § 2635.702 prohibits using public office for political loyalty
3
Check the Federal Register’s executive vacancies page at https://www.federalregister.gov/executive-vacancies/2025 to monitor the number of cabinet positions still listed as acting