We now have two federal judiciaries

[Nevilledog]

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Jennifer "Pro-privacy" Rubin
@JRubinBlogger
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with Trump has come a legion of extreme activist judges for whom the question is not “What is the law?” but rather “Who is asking me to rule?”

washingtonpost.com
Opinion | We now have two federal judiciaries
Finding judges to uphold the law will be critical.
9:38 AM · Sep 12, 2022

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/12/judiciary-judge-cannon-trump-special-master/

No paywall
https://archive.ph/vAh0Z

In assessing the state of the federal judiciary, one is tempted to focus solely on the runaway, partisan Supreme Court. But the vast number of cases don’t get there. Just as important are the inexperienced, highly partisan judges in lower courts who are ready to tear up precedent, misread the law and help “their side.”

For evidence of this, one need look no further than the jaw-dropping decision from Aileen M. Cannon, the forum-shopped, Donald Trump-appointed judge in Florida who granted the defeated former president’s request for a special master to review the classified documents he hoarded at Mar-a-Lago. One could also look to the 5th Circuit, where a district court judge is managing to carve out an employer-friendly workaround for the Affordable Care Act’s insurance coverage requirements.

The presence of so many right-wing activist judges dedicated to churning out results-oriented opinions creates a slew of tough decisions for the Biden administration. The Justice Department had to ponder whether to take its lumps with Cannon’s shoddy decision or appeal it to the notoriously right-wing U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. (It seems to have chosen the latter.)

The Trump-damaged judiciary will also affect where and how Trump is charged for mishandling documents, if the Justice Department decides to prosecute him. As legal scholars Laurence H. Tribe, Philip Lacovara and Dennis Aftergut wrote for Just Security, “while the case could be indicted in Florida, that option is a non-starter for any responsible federal prosecutor.” The risk of drawing a Trump-protecting trial judge and equally biased 11th Circuit judge is simply too great in Florida. Moreover, in Florida “at least one or two members of Trump’s base would find their way into the jury box. There, they might ignore the law and nullify other jurors’ votes to convict, however powerful the evidence of guilt and the interests of justice.”

*snip*

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Blame mitch mcconnell too. This scumbag deserves a big share of the blame too.

Just wait until the Court rules on something so outrageous, so blatantly wrong, then we'll see what he does in such a case.

[ShazzieB]

6. I actually blame Mitch more than I do Trump.

Mitch knew exactly what he was doing. He never liked Trump, but he saw a golden opportunity to stack the federal courts with RW judges and ran with it. He hid his contempt for Trump and played him like a fiddle to accomplish that goal and succeeded, all the way to the Supreme Court.

All Trump did was sit in the Oval and rubber stamp whoever Mitch and the Federalist Society put in front of him. He didn't know one judge from another and wouldn't have had the patience (or the reading comprehension) to vet judicial candidates himself.

I'm sure Trump was happy with the results and more than happy to take the credit, but Mitch was the mastermind behind the whole thing. They're both to blame, but I think Mitch bears a greater share of the responsibility. Trump was literally just a tool (in every sense of the word) that Mitch wielded to get something he very much wanted.

[childfreebychoice]

7. Blame ky voters who keep reelecting Mitch/rand, same goes for sc who

Keep reelecting graham and Scott.

[Walleye]

2. The weaponization of the judiciary

[William769]

3. I refuse to give that halfwit, that much power

[gab13by13]

4. McConnell and Trump

pick from a list supplied by Leonard Leo. The Federalist Society picks the judges.

[SharonAnn]

5. Don't forget, Leonard Leo is Opus Dei, on the board of the the right-wing Catholic CIC.

CIC is the Catholic Information Center in Washington, D.C. the head org of Opus Dei in the United States.