North Dakota judicial nominee questioned on political views during Senate hearing

A North Dakota federal judge nominated to serve on the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals answered pointed questions from U.S. senators Wednesday about whether judges should speak out on political issues.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is tasked with vetting judicial nominees before forwarding them to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.

U.S. District Court Judge Dan Traynor was tapped by President Donald Trump to join the 8th Circuit in May after Judge Ralph Erickson announced his intent to assume senior status. Trump during his first term nominated Traynor to the district court in 2020.

The American Bar Association in 2020 rated Traynor as well qualified for the federal bench. It has not yet published a rating for his 8th Circuit nomination.

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Several senators questioned Traynor over a 2024 letter he co-signed with a group of federal judges condemning Columbia University’s handling of student and faculty protests in support of Palestine. In the letter, addressed to Columbia’s president, the group accused the university of enabling antisemitic conduct on campus. They said they would not hire law clerks from the school starting with the entering class of 2024.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., asked Traynor why he chose to sign onto the letter given what Kennedy described as growing public concerns about political bias in the federal judiciary.

“I hope you won’t do something like that again,” Kennedy told him.

Traynor was also asked about his decision not to recuse from a 2024 case related to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests that involved attorneys who were current and former Columbia University faculty.

Traynor said he was within his First Amendment rights to participate in the letter and to make his own hiring decisions. He said he didn’t need to recuse from the 2024 lawsuit because he doesn’t hold a personal bias or prejudice against Columbia students or faculty.

“The purpose of the letter was to do what little one can do as a federal judge,” Traynor said.

Traynor was subject to a judicial complaint over the Columbia letter, which 8th Circuit Chief Judge Steven Colloton ultimately dismissed. 

Traynor during the Wednesday nomination hearing was also asked whether he thinks the events of Jan. 6, 2021, constituted an attack on the U.S. Capitol, and who he thinks won the 2020 presidential election. 

Traynor said he does not think federal judges should offer their opinion on Jan. 6, though he added the incident was “deeply troubling to watch,” especially acts of violence toward police.

“Any attack on law enforcement should be condemned,” Traynor said.

He added that another reason he could not speak about Jan. 6 is that there are cases in his courtroom “relating to individuals that have been charged for conduct that occurred on that date.” 

Traynor similarly said it would be improper for him to answer the question about the 2020 election.

“It is not appropriate for a judicial nominee to engage in a matter of political controversy,” he said, paraphrasing Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s response to the same question during her confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.

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Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have made a habit of asking Trump’s judicial nominees about Jan. 6 and the 2020 election since the start of the president’s second term, said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia. Tobias is an expert on the federal judge nomination process.

Trump nominees consistently decline to answer both questions, he said.

“They’re not going to go against the person who nominated them,” Tobias said.

Multiple Trump nominees have invoked the same Jackson quote as Traynor when asked about the 2020 election, Bloomberg Law reported last month.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., accused Traynor of following a script handed down to him from the Trump administration.

“You’re here to demonstrate your independence,” Blumenthal said.

Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, asked Traynor why he felt it was not appropriate to answer senators’ questions about the 2020 election or Jan. 6 when he felt comfortable signing onto the Columbia University letter.

Traynor responded that while Jan. 6 and the 2020 election are political controversies, his decision not to hire future Columbia graduates is not. 

Tobias said Traynor will likely have no issues being approved for the 8th Circuit. He said the Senate may try to confirm the judge before its August recess.

“He’s going to get all the Republican votes, but I don’t think he’ll get a lot of Democratic votes,” Tobias said.

Traynor was recommended for the position by North Dakota Republican U.S. Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer.

Background

While on the federal bench, Traynor issued several rulings finding federal regulations unlawful, including a 2025 order finding that a group of Catholic employers aren’t bound by Biden-era rules implementing federal laws meant to protect workers’ access to abortion and fertility treatment, and to shield LGBTQ employees from discrimination.

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Traynor was also in the minority of federal judges to rule in favor of the Trump administration’s novel practice of indefinitely holding without bond most noncitizens who are detained inside the U.S. after entering the country unlawfully. The 8th Circuit in a 2-1 decision in late March came to the same conclusion. Erickson was the dissenting judge on that panel.

Traynor in 2025 ordered the federal government to pay North Dakota $28 million for damages he found the state incurred during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. He recently agreed to vacate that judgment so the parties can reach a settlement.

Last year, Traynor criticized the American Bar Association for what he characterized as left-leaning partisanship.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas.

North Dakota Monitor reporter Mary Steurer can be reached at [email protected].