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Tag Archives: judiciary

Trump Starts to Create Balance on the Notorious Ninth Circuit Court

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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.”

Trump Flips First Appeals Court from Left to Right

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This is a hugely important story. One of the great, if underreported projects of the Trump presidency is the remaking of the Obama courts.

Despite Supreme Court Justice John Roberts’ delusional proclamation that there are only judges, not liberal or conservative judges, judges do in fact have personal biases and Barack Obama did much to shift the judiciary to the Left.

Now, President Trump is corralling it back over to the right, with long-lasting implications for the judiciary, especially if he is reelected.

According to the Washington Examiner:

With the confirmation of a nominee to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, President Trump has for the first time in his presidency flipped an appeals court to have a majority of Republican-appointed judges.

The approval of Paul Matey, who was deputy chief counsel to GOP New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie during the “Bridgegate” controversy, to the federal appeals court in Philadelphia marked a milestone in the efforts by the president and the Republican-controlled Senate to reshape the federal judiciary.

The Senate approved Matey’s nomination in a 54-45 vote on Tuesday. He is the 35th appeals court nominee confirmed since Trump took office. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was the only Democrat to join with his Republican colleagues in voting for Matey.

Matey, 48, a partner at Lowenstein Sandler and member of the conservative Federalist Society, was first nominated to the federal bench in April. His nomination was opposed by his home state U.S. senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, both Democrats.