Josh Divine

Joshua Michael Divine (born 1990) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. From January 2023 to 2025, he was solicitor general of Missouri.

Education

Divine was born in 1990 at Yokota Air Base, near Tokyo, Japan. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics with highest honors from the University of Northern Colorado in 2012. He was a columnist for the student newspaper The Mirror. He received a Juris Doctor from Yale in 2016.

Career

Divine served as a law clerk to Judge William H. Pryor Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from 2016 to 2017. Divine then worked as Chief Counsel to Senator Hawley, and in December 2022, was named by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to serve as Solicitor General of Missouri in 2023. On May 12, 2025, his nomination was sent to the Senate. President Trump nominated Divine to the seat vacated by Judge Rodney W. Sippel, who assumed senior status on January 28, 2023. On June 26, his nomination was favorably reported out of committee by a 12–10 party-line vote. On July 17, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 52–46 vote. On July 22, his nomination was confirmed by a 51–46 vote. He received his judicial commission on July 24, 2025.

Notable cases

Divine was one of the first judges to rule in favor of the Trump administration's policy of detaining without bond immigrants facing deportation. As of November 2025, Judge Divine was one of "only eight judges nationwide" to rule that way, with more than 200 ruling the other way. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the first federal appellate court to rule on the issue, ruled the same way as Judge Divine.

Selected publications

Divine, Joshua M. (2015). "Statutory Anachronism as a Constitutional Doctrine". Univ. St. Thomas L.J. 12(1):146–177. — (2018). "Booker Disparity and Data-Driven Sentencing". Hastings L.J. 69(3): 771–834. — (2020). "Statutory Federalism and Criminal Law". Va. L. Rev. 106(1): 127–198.