Watchdog: New Accountable.US Investigation Exposes The Partisan Ideological Records of Trump’s Latest Judicial Nominees

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Accountable.US is releasing research investigations into President Donald Trump’s latest extreme judicial nominees. The new research reports are part of Accountable.US’s Judicial Nominations Watch, a clearinghouse for everything you need to know about Trump’s judicial picks, their far-right, ideological records on the bench, and the special interest supporters stacked behind them.

“Donald Trump’s judicial playbook has been to nominate partisan judges with a clear record of carrying out the President’s agenda on the bench, at the expense of integrity and impartiality,” said Accountable.US President Caroline Ciccone. “These judicial nominees that will come before the Senate, have a clear history of trying to roll back Americans’ fundamental freedoms, in an effort to advance far-right ideological goals. Equally concerning: many of these nominees have sided with corporations, special interests, and corrupt politicians in efforts to help them evade accountability, raising serious red flags about the judgment of those selected.”

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TRUMP’S LATEST JUDICIAL NOMINEES: 

David Bragdon, Trump’s Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina

David Alan Bragdon has spent the past 18 years as a federal prosecutor and has previously clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, whom Bragdon has defended in light of revelations that Thomas had accepted nearly $1.8 million worth of gifts from right-wing billionaire Harlan Crow, including luxury vacations and valuable historical artifacts. In college, Bragdon also maintained a personal blog where he argued in favor of an extreme partisan agenda, including saying that abortion is fundamentally wrong because “a fetus has just as much right to life as an infant does,” and controversially stated that women seeking abortions “must face the consequences” for their “poor judgment” in not using birth control.

Susan Courtwright Rodriguez, Trump’s Nominee to the Western District of North Carolina

Susan Courtwright Rodriguez previously was a partner at McGuireWoods LLP where she co-led the firm’s financial institutions industry team and represented clients in government investigations. From 2013-2021, Rodriguez served as a board member and then president of MiraVia, a Catholic “safe haven” that states life begins at conception and encourages pregnant women to avoid abortion. In recent years, she has spoken at at least two Federalist Society events and was a member of the Republican National Lawyers Association. Her longtime association with these conservative, anti-abortion organizations highlight her alignment with the legal effort to roll back reproductive rights. Throughout her career, Rodriguez has sided with corporate interests accused of misconduct. As an attorney, she represented corporations accused of misconduct by the government or whistleblowers. In 2021, she represented Truist Bank after an employee sued for unlawful retaliation and wrongful termination for protected whistleblowing activities, and settled out of court. As a magistrate judge, she has continued to rule in favor of those interests.

Matthew Orso, Trump’s Nominee to the Western District of North Carolina

Matthew Orso is a partner at Troutman Pepper Locke where he represents clients subject to regulatory oversight, including from the DOJ, SEC, and IRS. Orso defended an unnamed sitting congressman in investigations by the House Ethics Committee, DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Orso has written and spoken extensively about cryptocurrency, indicating he may provide a crypto-friendly voice on the bench while the Trump family seeks to expand their personal crypto dealings. Orso served as president or a board member of the St. Thomas More Society of Charlotte, North Carolina, from 2018 to 2024.

Rebecca Taibleson, Trump’s Nominee to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals

Rebecca Taibleson is a conservative political insider who has worked as a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Wisconsin and as Assistant to the Solicitor General from 2019-2022 under the first Trump Administration. In the latter position, Taibleson helped enact Trump’s agenda, including litigating a case concerning whether the President’s Twitter account could legally block critics. Taibleson also clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and for current justice Brett Kavanaugh while he sat on the D.C. Circuit appeals court. During Kavanaugh’s confirmation process, she defended her former boss amid high-profile sexual assault allegations.

Lindsey Freeman, Trump’s Nominee to the Middle District of North Carolina

President Donald Trump nominated Lindsey Freeman to fill a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. Freeman worked in the Department of Justice in the Office of Legal Policy and as Deputy Associate Attorney General in the first Trump Administration, and has previously held positions as a corporate attorney and a federal prosecutor.

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