WASHINGTON – Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell made a devil’s bargain to stack the federal judiciary with ultra-conservative judges, cementing opposition to women’s rights, workers’ rights, immigrant rights, LGBTQ freedoms and environmental protections for generations to come.
The U.S. Senate has confirmed 196 judges nominated by President Trump, including two associate justices of the Supreme Court, 51 judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals, 141 judges for U.S. District Courts, and two judges for the U.S. Court of International Trade. That adds up to almost 30% of the entire federal bench, and Trump’s appointment total in less than four years matches what Barack Obama and George W. Bush accomplished in eight.
“My motto for the year is, leave no vacancy behind,” McConnell said last month. “That hasn’t changed. The pandemic will not prevent us from achieving that goal.”
As the coronavirus rages the Senate majority leader has diverted Congress’ agenda away from public health and economic recovery to confirming judges that will perpetuate Donald Trump’s racist, misogynist, and discriminatory policies long after he’s gone from the White House. A review of dozens of cases affected by Trump’s judges by the Guardian showed that under Trump, the courts have attacked the Affordable Care Act and chipped away at healthcare, greenlighted funding for Trump’s border wall, stepped aside to allow partisan gerrymandering, defended abusive policing, permitted encroachments on the Americans with Disabilities Act, reinforced religious exemptions from anti-bias laws and undermined protections for the most vulnerable populations.
We can’t afford four more years of this judicial horror show.
NOW opposes the slate of Trump judges up for confirmation and is calling on our activists to redouble their efforts to defeat Donald Trump and install a new, feminist progressive majority in the U.S. Senate that will ensure our federal courts uphold the Constitution and protect equal justice under law—for all citizens, not just a powerful few.