The Senate, using a new rule to speed confirmations, approved 88 of President Trump’s nominees in a single session. The rule change limited debate time, allowing Republicans to overcome delays and swiftly fill numerous executive and judicial positions despite Democratic objections.

σThe U.S. Senate has recently confirmed two federal prosecutors from North Carolina to serve as trial judges on the federal bench, marking another significant advancement in President Donald Trump’s ongoing effort to reshape the judiciary during his second term. David Bragdon was confirmed in a narrow 53–45 vote as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. Shortly afterward, Lindsey Ann Freeman, another seasoned federal prosecutor, was confirmed by a somewhat wider 60–39 margin to the same court. These confirmations bring Trump’s second-term total to 21 judges, continuing a pace that mirrors the ambitious judicial appointment strategy of his first term, during which he secured 234 lifetime federal judgeships. The two new appointees add further influence to Trump’s imprint on the federal judiciary, particularly within districts that have seen significant political and demographic changes over the past decade. Their confirmations also unfold amid an increasingly polarized Senate, where judicial appointments have become central battlegrounds in the broader ideological struggle over the future of federal law, constitutional interpretation, and the balance of power between conservative and progressive legal thought.