WASHINGTON — Justin Smith, the Missouri lawyer who is representing President Donald Trump in his effort to overturn an $88 million settlement for sexual harassment and defamation, won praise from his home state senators Wednesday during his confirmation hearing for a lifetime appointment to the federal appellate bench.
Smith is a 2010 graduate of the University of Missouri School of Law. If confirmed, Smith would serve on the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from federal courts in seven Midwestern states, including Missouri.
Smith is currently Trump’s lawyer on an appeal that asks the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a judgment the president has been ordered to pay to E. Jean Carroll. Carroll is a magazine columnist who alleges that Trump sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s and then defamed her in denying the charges. The justices have not yet decided whether to take the case.
Trump nominated Smith in February, following a trend of the president tapping members of his personal legal team into top federal positions. Interim Attorney General Todd Blanche led Trump’s defense team in a trial over hush money payments to former porn star Stormy Daniels, and Solicitor General D. John Sauer represented Trump in a case where he claimed that broad presidential immunity shielded him from prosecution for wrongdoing. Smith works for the St. Louis law firm Sauer founded.
“Justin Smith is one of the finest lawyers I’ve ever worked with in my entire life,” said U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., who introduced Smith at the hearing alongside U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. Both senators are former Missouri attorney generals. Smith served as Schmitt’s chief of staff and first assistant during his time as attorney general.
“On a personal level, Justin’s the kind of person we want around when the stakes are high,” Schmitt said. “He is calm, he’s thoughtful, he does not posture, he does not cut corners, he listens carefully, he thinks rigorously, and he speaks with precision.”
Schmitt vouched for Smith’s skill as a lawyer and character during the hearing.
Hawley called Smith “a man of utmost integrity” and “the most kind-hearted, compassionate man you’ll ever meet.”
Democrats are concerned that, like many Trump nominees before him, Smith would not outright acknowledge that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential
election. Smith would only say that Congress certified Joe Biden as president, which while factually true, does not answer the question the senators asked: if Joe Biden won the election.
The answer also avoids contradicting Trump.
Trump insists he was cheated out of victory in the 2020 race despite dozens of court rulings that found otherwise. Democrats on the committee took Smith’s answer as a sign of his loyalty to the president, creating a lack of independence.
“The reason why we continue to engage in these political gymnastics is a question about whether or not you can ever say no to Donald Trump, when it comes to future service, and this makes me concerned,” said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
Democrats also raised concerns about Smith’s ties to a large network of conservative dark money groups. Smith did not dispute his ties with the groups, but he said he was not affiliated with some of the organizations and that a clerical error had listed his home address in three of the organizations.
Smith said that he holds an originalist legal philosophy, and he will interpret the Constitution based on how he believes the people of the time would have understood it. This philosophy is common among conservative judges like Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will likely vote on whether to send Smith’s nomination to the full Senate next week.