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Lesbian Jurist Alison Nathan Confirmed As Federal Judge Despite GOP Senators

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GOP Senators today banded together today in a concerted but failed attempt to kill the federal judgeship nomination of Alison Nathan, a lesbian jurist whose law career spans eleven years. Even Republican Senators considered more moderate, like Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and Scott Brown (R-MA) voted against Nathan, but the Democratic majority in the Senate was able to squeak out a 48-44 vote in favor of Nathan, with no Republican Senators voting for Alison Nathan. The GOP lock-step vote is a clear indication of not only how far right even the moderates have become, but how the GOP cannot support a lesbian in any position of power or credibility in today’s America.

President Obama six and a half months ago nominated Alison Nathan to be a federal district judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Before serving as President Obama’s White House Counsel, Nathan held several positions in both public and private practice, and clerked for Associate Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

Earlier today, Chris Geidner of Metro Weekly reported,

Nathan, an out lesbian, would be the second out lesbian federal judge with lifetime tenure in the country if confirmed, joining U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Batts of the Southern District of New York. Also on that court, which is located in Manhattan, is U.S. District Court Judge J. Paul Oetken. Oetken was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate for the judgeship earlier this year and currently is the only out gay male judge serving in the federal judiciary.

One particularly hostile attempt to quash the Nathan nomination came from Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), whose own judicial nomination failed in 1986. Sessions claimed, “Perhaps if she had more legal experience, she would have a better idea of the role of a judge,” and claimed, falsely, that Nathan would rely on foreign law to decide her cases, an absurd comment that can be directly tied to Tea Party rhetoric.

“This is another step toward an America whose leadership class more accurately reflects the country it serves,” Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute said. “For too long gays and lesbians have been excluded from key public service roles, but that’s beginning to change, and we must continue fighting for opportunities for qualified, talented people like Alison Nathan who also happen to be open and honest about themselves.”

“We commend the Senate for their important vote today, confirming Alison Nathan to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Ms. Nathan’s demonstrated intellect and dedication to public service is a model of achievement. She will join Judges Deborah Batts and Paul Oetken in the Southern District of New York as the only openly lesbian or gay federal judges. We look forward to the day when the makeup of the entire federal bench truly represents the diverse American public.”

Chris Johnson at the Washington Blade reported,

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said on the Senate floor there was “no question the Senate should confirm Ms. Nathan.”
“As her resume shows, she is an accomplished nominee with significant experience in private practice, academia and government service,” Leahy said. “Twenty-seven former Supreme Court clerks have written to the Judiciary Committee in support of Ms. Nathan’s qualifications, including clerks who worked for the conservative Justices.”
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Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who’s known for opposing pro-LGBT initiatives in Congress, also expressed concerns on the floor about Nathan’s legal experience and what he said was her belief that judges can look to foreign law in deciding cases.
“It’s very hard for me to believe that I should vote to confirm a judge who’s not committed to following our law, who believes they have a right to scrutinize the world, find some law in some other country, bring it home, and use that law to make it achieve a result in the case they wanted,” Sessions said.
…
LGBT advocates praised the Senate for confirming Nathan and sending the third openly gay person to the federal bench.
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Democrat Warns How Trump Could Engineer a Path to Stay in Power After 2028

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November 14, 2025

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One of Capitol Hill’s most prominent — and most vocal — Democrats is warning about what he says are the ways President Donald Trump could try to remain in power beyond his current term.

President Trump has long hinted that he is interested in a third term, and even has had red “Trump 2028” caps as part of his merchandise offering. And while he recently appeared to put to rest questions about a third term — prohibited under a plain reading of the U.S. Constitution — by saying he has been told he cannot run, doubts among some still linger.

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) on Friday shared what he suggested were possible ways Trump could try to stay in power past 2028 — and warned he thinks it’s possible that he will.

“I think he is right now trying to scheme a way to be able to stay,” Senator Murphy told The Bulwark’s Sam Stein at the 2025 Texas Tribune Festival.

READ MORE: ‘Retribution’: Trump Calls for Epstein Inquiry Into Democrats

“I think you have a potential, two potential Supreme Court vacancies coming up,” Murphy noted, “and it may be very important for him to install folks on the Supreme Court who may be willing to entertain radical ideas about the restrictions on the Constitution, about a third term.”

Murphy continued with an alternative theory, suggesting the President Trump “may just be interested in installing Donald Trump Jr. or another family member in the White House.”

But then the Connecticut Democrat served up a warning.

“Whatever he’s planning on doing, he can’t get away with it unless he destroys the ability of the people to speak their mind in elections because he and his party are going to lose in 2026 and 2028 unless he’s successful in rigging the election,” Murphy declared.

He vowed, “we’re going to do everything in our power, and we need to order all of our advocacy in the United States Senate and the House to stop him from doing it.”

READ MORE: ‘Mask Comes Off’: Trump Branded an ‘Elitist’ as Base Scrutinizes ‘America First’ Focus

Murphy continued with his warnings.

“I don’t think anybody with ambition right now should be planning on running for president in 2028 because we may not have a free and fair election in 2028,” Murphy declared. “We all have to be in the business of saving our democracy right now.”

“I do think we have to, all of us,” he added, “be traveling the entire country, whether it be an early primary state or not, to build this political resistance movement.”

READ MORE: Trump Stumbles Over ‘God Bless America’ Lyrics at Veterans Day Ceremony

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‘Retribution’: Trump Calls for Epstein Inquiry Into Democrats

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November 14, 2025

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President Donald Trump is intensifying his efforts to thwart attempts to force the release of the Epstein files, even as the House moves toward a vote that could send disclosure legislation to his desk for his signature — or veto — further heightening scrutiny of his past ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

On Friday, the president announced he will ask the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation “to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him.”

The New York Times reported that the “inquiry appeared to be retribution for the renewed focus on his own ties to Mr. Epstein.”

After White House officials reportedly held a Situation Room meeting with Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert on Wednesday to convince her — unsuccessfully — to remove her name from the discharge petition, the president on Friday took a different tack, appearing both to try to wash his hands of the entire ordeal while refocusing attention on his political opponents and others.

“Epstein was a Democrat, and he is the Democrat’s problem, not the Republican’s problem!” Trump railed on his Truth Social website, while attacking Democrats.

“The Democrats are doing everything in their withering power to push the Epstein Hoax again, despite the DOJ releasing 50,000 pages of documents, in order to deflect from all of their bad policies and losses, especially the SHUTDOWN EMBARRASSMENT, where their party is in total disarray, and has no idea what to do,” Trump alleged.

“Some Weak Republicans have fallen into their clutches because they are soft and foolish,” the president continued. “Epstein was a Democrat, and he is the Democrat’s problem, not the Republican’s problem!”

“Ask Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, and Larry Summers about Epstein, they know all about him, don’t waste your time with Trump. I have a Country to run!”

Deadline on Friday noted that “Since the email release, Trump has avoided answering reporters’ questions about Epstein.”

Pointing to Trump’s Friday remarks, Politico’s Kyle Cheney remarked, “Trump again pleads with Republicans to stop talking about Epstein. The pressure hasn’t worked as well as it usually does. Also, the emails show Epstein was politically amorphous, deriding Ds just as much as Rs. And these latest emails were from the Epstein estate, not DOJ.”

Attorney Aaron Parnas added, “I guarantee you if Donald Trump truly believed Epstein was the ‘Democrat’s problem,’ he would have released all of the files by now.”

 

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‘Mask Comes Off’: Trump Branded an ‘Elitist’ as Base Scrutinizes ‘America First’ Focus

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November 14, 2025

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President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda — or his ability to stick to it — is facing renewed scrutiny as the second-term president jets around the world, hosts a “Great Gatsby” party at Mar-a-Lago while wrongly claiming food prices are down, reportedly racks up at least hundreds of millions in cryptocurrency profits, oversees a $300-plus million White House ballroom project that demolished the iconic East Wing, dodges his vows to release the Epstein files, and greenlights a $20-plus billion bailout for Argentina.

He has also sued his own government for hundreds of millions and called for 600,000 Chinese nationals to receive student visas — all while his government was shut down, inflation continued to heat up, and millions of Americans lost food stamp benefits while bracing for health care premiums next year to double or, in some cases, even triple.

“For a president who returned to office promising to avoid foreign entanglements, make life more affordable and ensure that available jobs go to American citizens, it has been a significant departure from the expectations of his loyal base,” The New York Times reported on Friday. “And it is starting to open a rift with his supporters who were counting on a more aggressively populist agenda.”

READ MORE: ‘He Sued to Block Kids From Getting SNAP’: Trump Torched for Biblical Defense of Children

The Times notes that the president’s handling of the Epstein files has left “a small but vocal group of Republicans angry over his about-face, and risking a further rupture in the movement heading into next year’s midterm elections.”

“When they’re protecting pedophiles, when they are blowing our budget, when they are starting their wars overseas, I’m sorry, I can’t go along with that,” U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) told CNN this week. “And back home, people agree with me. They understand. Even the most ardent Trump supporters understand.”

The president has given little indication that he plans to address the anger expressed by some of his supporters, nor has he signaled any major shift toward refocusing on what they believed was his “America First” agenda.

“Mr. Trump told aides recently that he might attend the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a gathering of the political and business elite, according to two people familiar with the matter,” the Times added. “Some of his advisers, however, feel such a trip would send the wrong message at a moment when they are trying to recapture a political edge on the economy.”

While some of his advisers may be pushing back inside the White House, externally they are pushing back on reports challenging his focus.

“As the architect of the MAGA movement, President Trump will always put America First,” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement. “Every single day he’s working hard to continue fulfilling the many promises he made and he will continue delivering.”

READ MORE: Trump Stumbles Over ‘God Bless America’ Lyrics at Veterans Day Ceremony

Trump echoed that sentiment in remarks to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham this week.

“Don’t forget MAGA was my idea,” he said. “MAGA was nobody else’s idea. I know what MAGA wants better than anybody else.”

The Times added that David Lapan, a recently former senior adviser at the Department of Veterans Affairs, “said he felt Mr. Trump had drifted away from important campaign pledges now that he was in office.”

“The messaging before was a means to an end to get elected, but once elected that can all fall by the wayside,” Lapan said.

“Now that he’s in office, the mask comes off and it’s all about taking care of himself and fellow billionaires and millionaires,” Lapan concluded. “He’s an elitist.”

READ MORE: ‘Concepts of a Plan’: White House and GOP Under Fire for Health Care Cost Crisis

 

Image via Reuters

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