Courts News

This article is an excerpt from the “2020 Mandate for Leadership: A Clear Vision for the Next Administration.” It looks back at policy decisions made by the Trump administration over the past four years. You can purchase your copy of “Mandate 2020” here. Our system of government and the liberty it provides are compromised when judges…

“The less you say, the better.” That was the advice I received from the judge I clerked for about orders on motions for recusal. This is good advice that 11th Circuit Judges Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck should heed before responding to Senate Democrats’ astonishing political attack on their judicial independence. As Ed Whelan, president…

Two federal appeals courts last week issued decisions on challenges to coronavirus-related executive orders by the governors of Illinois and Louisiana. In each case, churches and religious organizations challenged a governor’s restrictions on meeting in person at houses of worship while allowing other group activities to proceed, saying those orders violated the First Amendment.  Illinois…

President Donald Trump’s two Supreme Court picks, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, may be his highest-profile judicial nominations, but they are just two of the 157 men and women who have reshaped the federal judiciary. “One out of every 4 active judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals have been appointed by President Trump,”…

The Supreme Court heard oral argument this week in two cases challenging congressional district lines drawn for partisan advantage. The question before the justices is whether state legislators violate the Constitution when they draw up district lines with politics in mind. Partisan politics has been part-and-parcel of the redistricting process since Gov. Elbridge Gerry gave…

Does an administrative agency have the power to rewrite an act of Congress? The answer to that question in the headline ought to be a resounding no. Yet, by deferring to administrative agencies over the meaning of federal law, the federal courts have for decades empowered the executive branch do exactly this. Agencies now rewrite…

Our federal courts are facing a vacancy crisis like never before. The number of judicial vacancies across the federal bench has averaged 142 so far this year. The only year that came close to this was 1991, which had an average of 138 vacancies—but that was shortly after Congress created 85 new judicial positions. More…

If all Donald Trump did with these four years was balance the courts, his presidency would still be a success. Lucky for us, he’s got his sights set on a lot more than that—and a pile of accomplishments to prove it. But in an age when more decisions are being snatched out of his hands…

Recent developments in America’s courts and legislatures have brought home a reality that I discussed in this space last summer: Transgender activists seek to undermine parental rights. Transgenderism is part of a movement that is hostile to traditional family life. The traditional family is based on the idea that the needs of children are supplied…

Having failed to generate enough support to abolish the Electoral College through a constitutional amendment, the institution’s detractors are now looking to the courts to upend it. A new lawsuit, spearheaded by Harvard University law professor Lawrence Lessig and filed in four states, charges that the “winner-take-all” element of how states divvy up their Electoral…

Even before he was president, Donald Trump was clear about how he would prioritize putting constitutionalists on the courts. And now, at the end of 2017, we can see how his presidency is already having an effect on the courts. On May 17, 2016, then-candidate Trump did something unprecedented. He released a list of 11…

A new terror strike in London has renewed the world’s focus on transnational Islamist terrorism, rekindling the old debate over how best to fight it. The debate is understandable, but it comes far too late. It has been nearly 16 years since the 9/11 attacks, and ongoing terrorist activity has fit a predictable pattern—as has the U.S. response. The…