Conservatives, Libertarians and everyone who loves the US Constitution can breathe a sigh of relief tonight after our colleagues at Fox News broke a story we’ve been desperate to hear since the early days of the Obama administration: the ironclad reign of what the Daily Signal called: “the most liberal court in the nation” is over.
Trump reshapes long-liberal 9th Circuit, as Republican-appointed judges gain seats on court https://t.co/kZOkWKWk4c
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) April 2, 2019
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has jurisdiction over Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state, as well as the territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Many will remember that on February 3rd, 2017: Fox News reported that U.S. District Court Judge James L. Robart, an appointee of President George W. Bush, brought the Trump administration’s executive order on immigration to a halt nationwide, issuing a temporary restraining order in U.S. District Court until further hearings could be held. A decision the Ninth Circuit Court unanimously upheld, with President Trump responding:
SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017
Right around that same time, a call to break up the “liberal court” came from an unlikely source: Senator Jeff Flake, but those fruitless efforts are now but a footnote as under the Trump administration: the 9th Circuit is on course to be the balanced, functional court our founders intended. Oh, and Senator Diane Feinstein is FURIOUS:
.@SenFeinstein angry that @realDonaldTrump not respecting 'blue slip tradition'. Meanwhile @WhiteHouse pushes ahead with 2 more @POTUS nominees for 9th Circuit Court of Appeals || #DrainTheSwamp https://t.co/XJ9sVvYe8Z
— Sara A. Carter (@SaraCarterDC) March 31, 2019
The source of Sen. Feinstein’s aggravation is that “blue slips” have long been the rule of the Senate’s judicial appointment process, she explained:
“Before President Trump took office, the blue slip had been a Senate practice for nearly one century. And during the past 100 years, before this presidency, the Senate confirmed only five judges with only one blue slip, and the last one was in 1989 – and in 100 years the Senate had never confirmed a judge without two blue slips.”
A “Blue slip” is essentially an endorsement of a nominee from the Senators in their jurisdiction. As Roll Call explained: “It’s a literal blue slip of paper that for decades meant a senator could block a president’s nominee to a federal judgeship in their home state.”
The ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Feinstein said Thursday: “I take it that without notice or discussion, the blue slip is essentially dead,” may it Rest In Peace.
Mark this one down in the “#Winning” column, as an end to a system of political deference and preferential treatment is now as Senator Feinstein put it “essentially dead”, the days of judicial nominees bending the knee to kiss the ring of their jurisdiction’s Senators are long over. Draining the swamp indeed.
Two conservative SCOTUS justices.
A record number of conservative federal judges.
And now, @realDonaldTrump is reshaping the ultra-liberal 9th circuit court of appeals.
This is what #PromisesMade and #PromisesKept looks like.https://t.co/i2Sfs4NIkK
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) April 2, 2019
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