Trump’s judicial nominees are key to the far right’s crusade against our courts
Less than 200 days into Trump 2.0, amid an unrelenting wave of scandals, it’s easy to forget his first term. But we are still feeling its shockwaves every day through the lasting impact of his judicial appointments. We’re reminded again this week of the importance of judges with the Senate Judiciary Committee’s consideration of Trump’s first group of judicial nominees in this second term.
Talk about the Trump administration’s unprecedented assault on our fundamental freedoms has revolved around the breathtaking corruption and flouting of our law being committed in plain sight, including fancy dinners for foreign interests who buy Trump’s cryptocurrency, a $400 million flying bribe from Qatar, and abusive immigration enforcement tactics that include snatching a college student off the street with no due process.
Trump’s allies have promised that his second-term nominees will be even more extreme than the first.
But the people who are likely to have the most lasting impact on our lives and future are those Trump has nominated to serve lifetime appointments on the federal bench. If confirmed, these nominees would be expected to not only look the other way as the building blocks of America’s democracy are gutted, but to pave the way for Trump’s radical agenda — gutting reproductive freedoms and allowing the administration to take health care away from millions.
This isn’t hyperbole. Just look at the records of the first slate he nominated. Many of them have histories of defending anti-choice legislation and other radical policies championed by Trump and his MAGA allies in Congress.
Whitney Hermandorfer, Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, has a history of arguing for extreme positions in court, including defending abortion bans that even lack exceptions for rape and incest.
Josh Divine, Trump’s nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and the Western District of Missouri, is Missouri’s Solicitor General and has tried to undo the FDA’s approval of mifepristone and neutralize the results of Missouri’s voter-approved Amendment 3, which overturned the state’s abortion ban. New reporting also revealed that in a 2010 opinion piece, Divine called for literacy tests for voters despite the racially discriminatory practice being banned in the 1960s.
Some of the nominees in this first slate have also supported Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship, which has been widely viewed as unconstitutional. And in true loyalist fashion, one worked to defend Trump by seeking to interfere in New York’s attempt to hold Trump accountable for state crimes.
To understand the current environment we must remember how we got here. The far-right’s weaponization of the judiciary started long before Trump took office and paved the way for him to install 234 lifetime appointees to the federal courts, including one-third of the Supreme Court, during his first term.
The results have been catastrophic.
The Supreme Court has stripped away women’s rights and emboldened Trump to evade accountability. In the lower courts, judges dangerously distort legal standards to arrive at certain policy outcomes while others repeatedly appeared to put personal loyalty to Trump above the rule of law.
This is what the far-right wants: a judiciary that functions as another arm of the MAGA movement. And Trump’s allies have promised that his second-term nominees will be even more extreme than the first.
Given what we are seeing out of the administration, there is no acceptable reason for Senate Democrats to assist their Republican colleagues in pushing through Trump’s judicial nominees. The desire for compromise is human and, in many cases, necessary. But this is not the time to capitulate. Anyone who believes in our democracy cannot just cast a vote and hope for the best. Doing so would lend a dangerous legitimacy to the corrosive behavior of the administration and its supporters when it comes to the rule of law.
Recently, some Senate Democrats have voiced regret for supporting Trump’s cabinet nominees, including those who were seen as mainstream picks before going full MAGA once confirmed. Senators should not set themselves up for the same feelings of shame in voting for those who Trump nominates for lifetime appointments.
We at Demand Justice will be tracking every vote, and calling attention to every nominee set to bolster far-right interests from the bench. America deserves better than judges gutting healthcare, endangering our kids’ schools, and rolling back our rights. America deserves better than judges serving the whims of the President.
There is far too much at stake to support this administration’s crusade to endlessly expand its own power and assert it over the courts.
salon
