FACT SHEET: Information on Jennifer MASCOTT, Trump's nominee To the THIRD CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

Anti-Abortion Extremism

• From 2021-2023, Mascott served as a volunteer board member of the Rockville Pregnancy Center. The crisis pregnancy center uses deceptive tactics to masquerade as a neutral hub for information, then presents misleading information on abortion to vulnerable patients. 

• Her support for deceptive clinics is no surprise. In 2018, she represented members of Congress in an amicus brief challenging a California requirement that religiously oriented centers still supply women with abortion information.

• After the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Mascott celebrated the court’s decision, claiming “the court reclaimed its legitimate constitutional role” in Dobbs.

Defense of Trump's Title IX Rule

• As a DOJ attorney, Mascott represented the government in a case challenging the 2020 changes to Title IX rules on sexual assault investigations.

• During the case, the judge warned that the rule Mascott was defending would eliminate “a wide swath of proof,” including rape kit evidence, unless the hospital staff could be cross-examined. The judge, a Reagan appointee, largely upheld the Title IX rule, finding it did not violate the equal protection clause because it treated men and women the same.

Right-wing Legal Scholarship

• Mascott has authored scholarship supporting a revival of the long-defunct nondelegation doctrine, which would cripple the power of federal agencies by limiting Congress’ delegation power.

• Mascott personally filed an amicus brief supporting Walmart’s attempt to dismiss a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit concerning the company’s alleged processing of fraudulent money transfers. The brief criticized Humphrey’s Executor, a case that insulated the FTC from direct presidential removal — a topic at hand in 2025, when Trump tried to fire two Democrats serving on the FTC.

• Mascott served as counsel on an amicus brief supporting a challenge to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s existence, and represented Republican members of Congress seeking to overturn the Chevron doctrine.

Few Ties to Delaware

• Despite being selected for a federal appeals court seat in Delaware, Mascott has few ties to the state or the Third Circuit. She owns a beach property in the state, but has never been admitted to practice law in Delaware.

• Mascott is now the second Trump attorney nominated to the Third Circuit, following the nomination of Emil Bove, Trump’s personal defense attorney.

Cozy Relationships with Conservative Legal Figures

• Mascott clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas and then-judge Brett Kavanaugh. She defended Kavanaugh after he faced sexual assault allegations during his confirmation hearings, and remained close with Thomas throughout her career. In 2022, Mascott filed two briefs before the Supreme Court while she was teaching with Justice Thomas, and a third brief as she prepared for an on-campus summer program with Justice Kavanaugh. Thomas appeared to echo her legal reasoning in one case, and Gorsuch “name-checked” her during another, demonstrating her influence on conservatives on the court.

• In July 2024, Mascott was announced as a senior fellow at Catholic Law’s Project on Constitutional Originalism and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (CIT). Leonard Leo helped fund the project by facilitating donations to establish CIT.

• Mascott has spoken on panels hosted by the Leo-connected groups, like the Federalist Society and the anti-abortion Ethics and Public Policy Center, and alongside extremist Alliance Defending Freedom lawyers.