Trump Selects a Second Gay Conservative Judicial Nominee
Trump has announced his second openly gay nominee for a seat on the federal courts: This time, it's Patrick J. Bumatay, a federal prosecutor based in San Diego who could become the next judge to sit on the key United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bumatay, a Yale and Harvard-educated lawyer and Filipino American, works as an assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California. He's a member of the right-wing Federalist Society and the Tom Homann LGBT Law Association, a networking group for LGBTQ lawyers.
He's also the second LGBTQ judicial nominee Trump has named, the first being out lesbian Mary Rowland, who received a nod for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. (Rowland's spot on the court is still pending.)
Bumatay's nomination was announced last week as part of Trump's "18th wave" of federal judicial nominees—a direct jab at California Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, whose recommendations for nominees were rebuffed by the Trump administration, according to Buzzfeed News.
The left-leaning 9th Circuit, which is headquartered in San Francisco and remains the largest of the U.S.'s 13 courts of appeals, has foiled Trump's conservative policies time and time again, hence his apparent plans to fill the court with conservative politicians.
Above: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat who's served on the U.S. Senate since 1992.
In a statement to Buzzfeed News, Feinstein confirmed the President's "desire to remake the court," detailing his administration's refusal to collaborate on determining suitable judicial nominees for the 9th Circuit:
I repeatedly told the White House I wanted to reach an agreement on a package of 9th Circuit nominees, but last night the White House moved forward without consulting me, picking controversial candidates from its initial list and another individual with no judicial experience who had not previously been suggested.
Meanwhile, Gregory Angelo, president of the queer-inclusive Log Cabin Republicans, told NBC News that Trump’s nomination of Bumatay is a move in the right direction: “As someone who has personally known Pat for the better part of a decade, I can tell you I will have great personal satisfaction to see him seated on the bench on the 9th Circuit. Patrick is highly qualified, and the fact that he is openly gay only adds to the historic nature of his nomination."
Click the graphic above to learn about LGBTQ candidates running for office nationwide.
