President Donald Trump is reaching back to his first-term roster and moving two familiar faces up the judicial ladder, announcing Monday that he will nominate U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor to the Eighth Circuit and U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico to the Tenth Circuit. The promotions elevate trial judges who have already drawn attention with rulings on immigration, environmental review and religious-liberty fights. The announcements landed on the president’s Truth Social feed.
In back-to-back posts on Truth Social, Trump praised Traynor for issuing “courageous decisions.” In a separate post on Truth Social, he hailed Domenico’s “exemplary record of protecting citizens’ constitutional rights.” According to Reuters, the White House paired the two appellate picks with a broader slate of district-court nominees that Trump plans to send to the Senate.
From Trial Benches To Appeals Panels
Traynor was nominated to the federal bench in 2019 and has served on the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota since January 2020, part of a broader effort to move first-term appointees up the chain, Bloomberg Law reported. On the trial bench, he vacated a 2024 National Environmental Policy Act rule issued by the White House Council on Environmental Quality and issued orders that limited a Biden administration rule expanding Affordable Care Act marketplace access for some immigrants, according to the Associated Press.
Domenico, a former Colorado solicitor general, was nominated in 2019 and confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. Since then he has repeatedly sided with religious-liberty claimants in headline-grabbing Colorado disputes. He blocked state officials from excluding a Christian preschool from a taxpayer-funded universal preschool program and granted preliminary relief halting enforcement of Colorado’s ban on so-called abortion-pill “reversal” treatments, as reported by Colorado Public Radio. Those rulings have made Domenico a prominent conservative voice in Colorado’s federal courts.
What The Picks Could Change
If confirmed, the appointments would shift two experienced trial judges to appellate courts that regularly shape regional and sometimes national policy. The Eighth Circuit hears appeals from states including North Dakota and Minnesota, while the Tenth Circuit covers Colorado and several Mountain West states. Reuters notes that the Tenth Circuit currently has seven judges appointed by Democratic presidents and five appointed by Republicans, so each new Republican appointee can matter on closely divided panels.
What Happens Next
The nominations now head to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where hearings and committee votes are the next hurdles before any full Senate confirmation vote. Bloomberg Law and other outlets report that the White House rolled out the appellate selections alongside several trial-court nominees and still has a small number of open appeals-court seats it aims to fill this term.
Legal Stakes
Legal observers say the stakes extend well beyond two resumes getting a promotion. Traynor’s NEPA and immigration rulings show how elevating a single trial judge to an appellate post can influence how infrastructure, environmental and immigration rules are scrutinized on appeal. Domenico’s record underscores religious-liberty and reproductive-policy flashpoints that routinely climb the federal ladder. Local coverage and legal reporting indicate these nominations are likely to spark sharp partisan scrutiny once the Senate begins its review.
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