Trump's stealth victory: Reshaping the courts
With less than two years under his belt, President Trump has managed to make a substantial imprint on the U.S. judicial system — one that could be felt for decades to come — by getting the Senate to confirm key judicial nominees.
The fundamental shift has come even as Republicans grumble that Democrats are slow-walking the process in the Senate. Democrats have been demanding maximum debate time for many of Trump's picks, but even with that obstacle, the courts aren't lacking for Trump nominees.
“What President Trump has done with judicial selection and appointments is probably at the very center of his legacy, and may well be his greatest accomplishments thus far,” Leonard Leo, an outside adviser to the White House on judicial selection and executive vice president of the Federalist Society.
“By the end of this year, he probably will have transformed about 30 percent of the federal appellate courts in our country, and that’s quite significant when put against other administrations in modern history," he said.
Liberals mostly hate Trump's choices.
“Most of the nominees confirmed for the court of appeals seats manifest an exceptional level of hostility to workers, women, consumer rights, environmental protections and people of color,” Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, told the Washington Examiner. “They’re selected specifically because of the hostility revealed in their records.”
But more are coming. There are currently 80 Trump judicial nominees in the Senate pipeline between the appeals courts, district courts, and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
Already, the upper chamber has confirmed 21 of the president's picks to the appeals courts, nominees to which Republican Senate leaders have placed a priority. Republicans are hoping to continue with this pace.
Under Grassley's leadership of the Judiciary Committee, he's interpreted the "blue slip" in a manner different from his immediate predecessor, Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt.
The blue slip allows a home-state senator to weigh in on a judicial nominee.
Past committee chairs have interpreted the blue slip differently, with Leahy strictly enforcing the policy. During the Democratic senator's tenure as chairman, home-state senators could block a nominee by returning a negative blue slip or not returning it all.
But Grassley has maintained that the blue slip is a courtesy and has said that as long as the White House has consulted with home-state senators, an unreturned blue slip would not preclude an appeals court nominee from receiving a confirmation hearing.
Two of Trump's nominees have been confirmed despite an unreturned blue slip from a home-state Democratic senator, and Grassley held a hearing for a third—neither Democratic home-state senators returned their blue slips—this month.
The move has outraged Democrats, but Grassley points out that the Senate has made this decision before.
The change in practice will be tested when Trump starts focusing on the nominees for the liberal 9th Circuit, when California's two Democratic senators, Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, are likely to argue strenuously that they need to signal their approval before the Senate considers judges from that state.
There are currently seven vacancies on the San Francisco-based court, three of which are California seats.
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https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/courts/trumps-stealth-victory-reshaping-the-courts