This week federal judiciary became one-fifth Trump-appointed, while media focused on Jerry Nadler
Liberal who was paying attention: “these right-wing judges will have the power to shape U.S. law on climate, reproductive rights, and other major areas for decades to come”
This week ended with the Senate confirming 8 federal judicial nominees, bringing the total of Trump-appointed federal judges to 172, one-fifth of the federal judiciary.
But liberals and the mainstream media barely paid attention because they all were focused on Jerry Nadler’s law professor show, which was so boring and worthless, even Nadler had trouble staying awake.
OOPS: Sleepy Jerry Nadler got caught dozing off as he chaired House Democrats' #ImpeachmentHearing.??
Sound on! ?? pic.twitter.com/wvz9DhCuQC
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) December 4, 2019
This distraction phenomenon is something about which we have written repeatedly:
- While you were focused on COMEY, Trump nominated another group of CONSERVATIVE Judges (June 7, 2017)
- While you were focused on … Republicans kept moving judicial nominees through pipeline (February 18,2018)
- While you were distracted by [insert news cycle], Trump continued to reshape the federal judiciary (May 19, 2019)
- While you were watching the Democrat debates, Mitch McConnell rammed through more judges (August 1, 2019)
- While you were focused on Impeachment, Trump continued to transform the federal judiciary (November 4, 2019)
Trump managed to fill the longest-standing vacancy, the 14-year-old open seat on the district court in the Eastern District of North Carolina. And he filled it with a Federalist Society member who represents the GOP locally:
Richard E. Myers II is a UNC Chapel Hill Law professor and was confirmed Thursday by the Senate 68 to 21. He was nominated by President Donald Trump, who bested two prior presidents in ending the longest running vacancy in the federal judiciary.
Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama unsuccessfully tried to fill the position.
Trump’s initial nominee, Thomas Farr — who has been connected to white supremacy and voter suppression tactics — also was not confirmed. A Raleigh based attorney, Farr frequently represents the state’s Republican party in voting rights cases. He has been lead counsel for the GOP in redistricting cases and in the voter identification law challenge.
Most recently, he served as one of many attorneys representing the legislature in partisan gerrymandering litigation.
Farr was nominated to fill the same vacant seat in 2006 by Bush but never got a vote from the Senate.
The implications of Trump’s successes are not lost on liberals who are paying attention (which admittedly is not many since they are obsessed with impeachment):
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rammed through eight of President Donald Trump’s lifetime judicial picks in just three days this week, accelerating the far-right court takeover that one commentator warned is “absolutely going to hamstring efforts to make the U.S. into a responsible, civilized country, for as long as we live.”
The latest slew of confirmations, according to Bloomberg‘s Sahil Kapur, means that Trump and his Federalist Society allies have now hand-picked “about one in every five American federal judges,” or 170 judges total.
“Nearly all are in their 40s or 50s with lifetime appointments and positioned to shape American law for generations,” Kapur noted on Twitter. “It gets a tiny fraction of attention compared to other stuff he does but this is the Trump legacy that’ll echo for generations after he’s gone.” ….
Progressive advocacy groups and legal experts have warned that these right-wing judges will have the power to shape U.S. law on climate, reproductive rights, and other major areas for decades to come.
As liberals and the media were focused on impeachment hearings, the judicial confirmation train kept rolling down the tracks:
Also, this week the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing for one circuit court nominee and five district court nominees. The circuit court nominee is the thirty-eight year old Judge Andrew Brasher (M.D. Ala.), who was only confirmed to the federal bench this past May. With a potential impeachment trial looming, the Senate continues to advance and confirm judges at a rapid pace.
As of December 5, there are 99 Article III vacancies, 82 of which are current. There are 48 pending nominees: 20 waiting for floor votes, 10 waiting to be reported out of Committee, and 18 waiting for Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.
These successes have not come easily, as Democrats have done everything possible to stall Senate proceedings:
By now, the record is well-established that Trump’s judicial nominees face, by orders of magnitude, unprecedented obstruction and opposition. Even though the liberal ABA gives Trump nominees comparable or higher ratings, for example, Democrats have forced the Senate to take a separate vote to end debate, known as a cloture vote, on 129 Trump nominees, or 75 percent of his confirmed judges. During the entire first term of the previous five presidents, the Senate took a cloture vote on an average of 1.5 percent.
Now go back to watching the impeachment farce, which may result in a second Trump term, at the end of which he may have appointed a majority of the federal judiciary.
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Comments
“Liberal who was paying attention: “these right-wing judges will have the power to shape U.S. law on climate, reproductive rights, and other major areas for decades to come”
Isn’t Congress the law making branch of government?
That’s kind of the point. Congress writes the laws, the President signs them and then the courts reign them in if they go too far. The left needs courts that will ignore the Constitution. They should be thankful that Trump’s going to foil them for a couple of decades. It’s delaying the inevitable civil war that will wipe them out.
“…the courts reign them in…”
Was that a Freudian slip, or a deliberate word play on the Imperial attitude of our Black Robed masters?
If the former, good slip substituting the imperial “reign” for “rein”. If the latter, even better.
Yes, but a) Congress has, by statute, delegated a lot of lawmaking power to government agencies; b) Courts decide which laws Congress or agencies are allowed to make.
Hunh.
So, they finally admit judges DO shape law, rather than being blind and following the Constitution.
No sir. The issue is the for many years judges have been making law and ignoring the separation of powers. Most of this is more of a push back saying the judiciary has to stop it. If the want to make law then they have the wrong office, run for the legislature (state or federal).
Farr “…who has been connected to white supremacy and voter suppression tactics…”
Farr “…frequently represents the state’s Republican party in voting rights cases. He has been lead counsel for the GOP in redistricting cases and in the voter identification law challenge.
Most recently, he served as one of many attorneys representing the legislature in partisan gerrymandering litigation.”
Yup! Voter suppression and white supremacy activities for sure.
Broken record:
Judges
Not Hillary
Everything else is gravy
The deregulation, jobs, and market responses are gravy, too
When you’re right you’re right.
Jerry Nadler had a comment about this:
We need to make sure Donald Trump is not re-elected or he will have four more years to add more Federal Judges. With another four years he could turn that one fifth into the much larger one tenth of all Federal judges.
“The much larger one tenth” LOL!
It does sound like Jabba the Nadler, with his vast intellect!
One-tenth is actually smaller than one-fifth (=two-tenths). It is more likely that with another four years, Trump will have appointed three-fifths (six-tenths) of the judiciary, which at that point will certainly be a majority ( greater than one-half, which is equal to five-tenths).
While Pelosi and gang fiddle, the Swamp burns.
Right on!
In other words, Pres. Trump has ignited the swamp gas!
Political climate, yes. The average global weather over decadal periods or “climate change”, not so much.
Reproductive rites or wicked solution, as well as clinical cannibalism, a.k.a. planned parenthood, are a critical sanction of the Chamber and State to keep women available, taxable, and leveraged.
The Constitution also does not remark on babies, adolescents, teenagers, adults, and seniors, too. The Twilight Amendment has a progressive scope with liberal license, not limited to redistributive change, diversity, and life deemed unworthy of life.
So Paul Ryan’s NeverTrumper plan to kneecap Trump by surrendering the House to Pelosi is backfiring bigly. Pelosi has been forced to return the favor with a desperate hail mary impeachment effort on the hopes that a Plan B McConnell deal will save the day.
There probably was a deal but considering that McConnell doesn’t have the power to deliver on impeachment, he would suffer be little to no consequences for breaking the deal.
Funny how hail mary passes always fail. The Dem rule changes that opened up the opportunity for Trump to reshape the judiciary for at least a generation was a desperate hail mary pass too. So was Ryan’s throwing away the Speakership to Pelosi. Anyone else want to try? Hail marys have been the most effective Swamp draining tactic of all. Rats making bad deals with rats with the Trump cat in the room.
Who is actually picking the judges?
The best summation for ‘How are the prospective Judges being selected’ was found @ The Hill with an interview with the co-founder of the Federalist Society.
Steven Calabresi, who co-founded the society in 1980 and serves as chairman of its 12-member board of directors, said Leo offers recommendations to the White House on his own time and in his private capacity as an individual citizen — not as the society’s executive vice president.“I would say I think the Federalist Society has come to play over the last 30 years for Republican presidents something of the role the American Bar Association has traditionally played for Democratic presidents,” At the same time, he acknowledged the nonprofit organization, which has about 60,000 members nationwide, has become a clearinghouse of sorts for candidates. “The last two Republican presidents have disregarded ABA ratings, and I think they are relying on the Federalist Society to come up with qualified nominees.” Calabresi said in an interview with The Hill.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/360598-meet-the-powerful-group-behind-trumps-judicial-nominations
Trump is a master at “look over here and ignore the big thing I am really doing”. Every time Trump makes a tweet with a misspelling or some grammar issue the media jumps all over, I always look to see what else he is doing.
People are constantly bamboozled by President Trump’s “ordinary man” crude, blue-collar speech and forget, if they ever knew, that Donald J. Trump is an international Grand Master Chess Champion taught by the likes of Bobbie Fisher (gave it up at age 40, but has personally taught his son Barron, who became a Grand Master at age 11.)
Chess is a game of strategy – war, actually – that very few master at that level. One must be a special kind of foolish to forget that.
That is pure, 100%, extra virgin bullsh*t.
Granny, I’m 100% a Trump man but have never heard of that. You got a link or some other kind of proof?
Appointing judges is a thought crime. Impeach!
As Harry Roid writhes in pancreatic cancer pain on his death bed, he can replay his YUGE mistake in his mind over and over and over
It just ain’t fair. All these years it’s been about lies, charades, personal connections, contrived stories, concocted evidence, bought-off judges, nutcase laws, on and on. It’s just sad these right wing judges will return law to facts and evidence and precedent. /s