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- Opinion
4 Key Issues in Neomi Rao’s Judicial Confirmation Hearing
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday held its first judicial confirmation hearing of the year for Neomi Rao, who is President Donald Trump’s nominee for the vacancy left by new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Rao fielded questions from senators about her college writings, whether…Elizabeth Slattery -
- News
Democrat Senator Asks Judicial Nominee to Answer Whether Gay Marriage Is ‘Sinful’
Sen. Cory Booker asked judicial nominee Neomi Rao during a hearing Tuesday if she believed same-sex relationships were “immoral.” “Are gay relationships, in your opinion, immoral?” Booker, D-N.J., asked Rao, who is nominated to be on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. If confirmed, Rao would replace Brett Kavanaugh,…Ginny Montalbano -
- News
Trump Targets 9th Circuit, Kavanaugh’s Former Seat Among 51 Judicial Renominations
President Donald Trump renominated 51 federal judges on Wednesday, including the replacement for now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and two nominees for the liberal 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The nominations are going back to the Senate after having been left over from the…Fred Lucas -
- News
Senate Adopts Resolution Saying Judicial Nominees Can Be in Knights of Columbus
GOP Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska introduced a Senate resolution Wednesday providing that it is unconstitutional to disqualify a nominee from public office based on their membership in the Knights of Columbus. The resolution, which The Daily Caller News Foundation obtained in advance of its introduction, comes after Democratic Sens. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and…Kevin Daley -
- Opinion
Thanks to Senate Democrats, Our Judicial Vacancy Crisis Is More Out of Order Than Ever Before
Some people in government don’t even need a shutdown to avoid work. Consider how Senate Democrats are handling President Trump’s judicial nominees. Or, to be more precise, not handling them. Just before the Christmas break, The Hill reported, Democrats vowed to “reject any end-of-the-year deal on judicial nominations, signaling they’ll toe a tougher line on court appointments amid…Ed Feulner -
- News
Democrats Question Judicial Nominee About Membership in Catholic Association
Two Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are pressing a nominee for the Nebraska federal trial court about his membership in the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal service organization of the Catholic Church. Democratic Sens. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Kamala Harris of California submitted written questions in December to Brian Buescher, an Omaha lawyer nominated to the U.S. District Court for…Kevin Daley -
- Opinion
By Democrats’ Own Standard, We Have a Judicial Vacancy Crisis
Words like “crisis” are in the eye of the political beholder. But it’s hard to pick a better one to describe the current state of vacancies in the federal courts. Today, 126 positions on the U.S. District Court and U.S. Court of Appeals are vacant. In fact, we’re in the longest period of triple-digit vacancies…Thomas Jipping -
- News
Flake Continues to Hold Judicial Confirmations Hostage to Vote on Mueller Protection Bill
Retiring Sen. Jeff Flake is staying true to his pledge to not advance judicial nominees in the Senate Judiciary Committee, unless a bill that would prevent President Donald Trump from firing special counsel Robert Mueller gets a Senate vote. “It is not productive,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, per Politico. “One of the greatest substantive…Rachel del Guidice -
- Opinion
Where Trump’s Judicial Picks Stand at the End of This Congress
The 115th Congress is almost finished, with the Senate expected to adjourn by Dec. 14. What does that mean for the process of filling positions in the judicial and executive branches? First, here’s how it usually works. The majority and minority typically agree to confirm a group of nominees in the last few days of…Thomas Jipping -
- Opinion
A New Way of Tracking Trump’s Judicial Nominees
Addressing a convention of labor commissioners in 1889, prominent government statistician Carroll D. Wright reminded his audience that “figures will not lie,” but warned that “liars will figure.” He urged them to “prevent the liar from figuring”—that is, from “perverting the truth, in the interest of some theory he is trying to establish.” To that…Thomas Jipping -
- News
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Calls Congress the ‘Culprit’ in Polarizing Judicial Confirmation Process
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg points the finger at an increasingly partisan Congress for polarizing the judicial confirmation process. Speaking at the federal courthouse in Washington on Wednesday, Ginsburg said a lack of collegiality and bipartisanship among lawmakers was to blame for polarizing the confirmation process for federal judges, The Washington Post reported. Ginsburg…Tristan Justice -
- Opinion
Why Democratic Senators Won’t Succeed in Attempt to Block Judicial Nominee
Even with just two months left in this Congress, the Senate Judiciary Committee is still holding hearings for judicial nominations. A hearing Wednesday will include Eric Miller, nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, even though his home-state senators, Democrats Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell of Washington, oppose him. Murray and…Thomas Jipping -
- Opinion
How the Judicial Confirmation Process Got So Bad
The 50-48 Senate vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court was the closest confirmation since 1881, when Justice Stanley Matthews was approved by a vote of 24-23. President Donald Trump may well get another Supreme Court pick before he leaves office and, in the meantime, he can certainly expect aggressive opposition to…Thomas Jipping -
- News
Senate Ramping Up Trump Judicial Confirmations This Week
Since March, Senate Democrats have forced 30 hours of debate on each of five of President Donald Trump’s federal district court judge nominees subsequently approved with at least 95 votes. District court judges—the first jurists to rule on often contentious cases—have been stalled, but Senate Republicans plan this week to keep the Senate in session…Fred Lucas -
- Opinion
In Past Years, Feinstein, Schumer Said Nominee’s Judicial Record Most Important
When President Donald Trump last month announced his nomination of federal Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the “American people deserve to know what kind of a justice” Kavanaugh would be. He’s right. How do you measure something like the “kind of a justice” a nominee…Thomas Jipping -
- Opinion
What Brett Kavanaugh’s Previous Hearings Tell Us About His Judicial Philosophy
Hours after President Donald Trump announced his nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said: “The American people deserve to know what kind of a Justice President Trump’s nominee would be.” He’s right—and the answer to that question is readily available in Kavanaugh’s record. Each nominee has…Scott French -
- Opinion
What Brett Kavanaugh’s Speeches Tell Us About His Judicial Approach
As the Senate begins the confirmation process for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, senators must evaluate Kavanaugh’s qualifications to determine what kind of justice his will be.. Some parts of his record, such as his service in the executive branch, are not relevant to that question, while other parts, especially his judicial opinions and many…Dominic Bayer -
- News
Justice Elena Kagan’s Scholarly Connection With Brett Kavanaugh
A surprise shoutout from President Donald Trump’s conservative Supreme Court nominee to one of the high court’s liberal justices proved to be a rare note of civility amid the partisan rancor from the left surrounding the pick. If the Senate confirms D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the court, he already will be on familiar…Ken McIntyre -
- Opinion
17% of Judicial Positions Are Now Vacant
As Sen. Bob Dole once said, the judges a president appoints may be his most profound legacy. Federal judges have become increasingly powerful, much more so than America’s Founders intended. For our system of government to work as designed and to produce the liberty it promises, presidents must appoint the right kind of judges. President…Thomas Jipping -
- Opinion
Senators Need to Stop Asking Judicial Nominees Their Personal Views
On Thursday, in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s business meeting, Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, addressed efforts to force judicial nominees to express personal views on issues or cases in their confirmation hearings. Senators routinely press nominees, for example, to say whether particular Supreme Court precedents, such as Brown v. Board of Education or Roe v. Wade, were correctly decided….Thomas Jipping
