Democrat opposition to Missouri’s four federal judge nominees facing confirmation hearings Wednesday has been predictably hysterical – with one leftist headline blaring, “Trump Has Made His First Round of Judicial Picks – and They’re Terrifying.”

To illustrate how “terrifying” the nominees are, another far-left blog cites one of the nominee’s “continuous membership in the Federalist Society since 2013.”

How frightening is that group? It exists to protect individual freedom and the Founders’ separation of powers, and to forestall law-making – rather than law-interpreting – judges.

That kind of judicial restraint and adherence to the Constitution may frighten the left, but it’s just what the four nominees’ supporters, including Missouri Sens. Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt, want – in stark contrast, they note, to the far-left judicial activists who’ve taken it upon themselves to rule the Executive Branch like so many unelected presidents.

Their supporters also tout the nominees’ résumés.

President Trump has nominated these four Missouri lawyers to fill open federal judgeships in the state:

• Joshua Divine, current Missouri solicitor general and former chief counsel to Sen. Hawley. Divine graduated Yale Law School and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, as well as for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Maria Lanahan, Divine’s principal deputy solicitor general. She graduated the University of Chicago School of Law and clerked for the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Current Missouri Court of Appeals Judge Cristian Stevens, a former first assistant attorney general for Missouri. He graduated the University of Missouri School of Law and clerked for the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Zachary Bluestone, currently assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Missouri and former Missouri deputy solicitor general. He graduated Harvard Law School and clerked for the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“They’re terrific nominees,” Hawley told The Heartlander last month. “They will be constitutionalist, rule-of-law judges. There’s four of them, and each one of them is outstanding. 

“We have a federal prosecutor. We have the solicitor general of the State of Missouri – that’s our top courtroom lawyer. We have the deputy solicitor general of the State of Missouri. We’ve got a Missouri state judge. 

“I mean, these are tremendous, tremendous people who already have a tremendous record, and they’re going to be outstanding.”

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who will be at the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for the four Wednesday, is effusive in his praise for his Divine, his solicitor general.

Divine went to court earlier this year and secured a record judgment of $24 billion against China for its hoarding of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Josh Divine is one of the finest legal minds I’ve had the privilege to work with,” Bailey said in a statement to The Heartlander Monday. “His confirmation will be a win for Missouri and for every American who believes in the Constitution.

“Josh Divine capably led some of the most pivotal legal fights this office has ever waged. Whether it was dismantling the Biden Administration’s unlawful $700 billion student loan bailout, shutting down radical attempts to harm Missouri children, or defending our laws before the nation’s highest courts, Josh consistently delivered results with integrity, excellence, and an unwavering commitment to the rule of law.

“As Solicitor General, he didn’t just argue cases; he fundamentally changed the legal landscape in Missouri and across the nation. His work has protected the rights of parents, safeguarded children, and checked some of the most brazen federal power grabs in recent history.”

Taylor Meehan, who served as a law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas as did Divine, weighed in on his nomination with a statement to The Heartlander late Tuesday.

“Josh has served the state of Missouri tirelessly since the moment he finished his own clerkship,” Meehan said. “He has the humility and steadiness to be admired in a federal judge.”

However, no one may know these nominees better than Sen. Schmitt.

“All four nominees worked for me in the Missouri Attorney General’s office,” Schmitt said in a statement after their nominations, “and together we fought each day for Missourians across our state.

“President Trump’s historic transformation of our federal judiciary was among the greatest successes of his first term, and with these well qualified, proven nominees President Trump is continuing that legacy.”