Maybe the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California will stop being the place where President Trump’s executive action go to die.
According to the Washington Examiner:
Young, conservative judges appointed by President Trump might tip the country’s most liberal federal appeals court to political balance.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is on track to have 13 Republican appointees among its 29 full-time judges once the Senate confirms Trump’s latest nominee to the San Francisco-based court and the president fills one remaining vacancy. With 16 judges tapped by Democratic presidents, the 9th Circuit is the closest it’s been in more than two decades to achieving an ideological balance.
When Trump took office in January 2017, 18 of the judges on the 9th Circuit were named by Democratic presidents, and seven were appointed by Republicans. Trump also inherited four open seats on the federal appeals court.
Now, more than two years into his first term, Trump has tapped six judges to the San Francisco-based court, which is the country’s largest federal appeals court and has been described as the most liberal. The Senate confirmed two of those nominees — Kenneth Lee and Daniel Collins — this month, and the Senate Judiciary Committee held a confirmation hearing for another 9th Circuit pick, Daniel Bress, on Wednesday.
“That kind of fortifies it in a different direction,” said Adam Feldman, founder of Empirical SCOTUS, a blog focused on the high court. “That’s the intention for sure.”