Trump Personal Attorney Schwartz Confirmed to Second Circuit 50-45; Total Reaches 281 Article III Judges

The Senate confirmed Matthew Schwartz — a Sullivan & Cromwell partner who personally handled Trump’s legal matters — to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit by a 50-45 party-line vote on July 14. Schwartz fills the seat of retiring Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston. The Second Circuit covers New York, Connecticut, and Vermont and is among the most consequential appellate courts for financial regulation, securities, and constitutional cases. The confirmation brings Trump’s total second-term Article III placements to 281 judges (3 Supreme Court, 62 circuit, 213 district) — a pace more than tripling his first term’s rate at the equivalent point.

Schwartz’s direct personal representation of Trump raises a recusal question with no clear resolution mechanism: as a judge on a court that regularly hears cases touching Trump-administration executive actions, what obligates him to step aside on matters connected to his former client is left to his own discretion, not a binding external rule — the same structural gap the timeline has tracked in prior Trump-aligned appellate confirmations, including Bove’s Third Circuit seat (2025-07-29–bove-confirmed-third-circuit-court-of-appeals).