December 13, 2019
The 9th Circuit has
been dominated by liberal justices appointed by presidents from the Democratic
Party.
For this reason, there has not been a lot of success when
their decisions get appealed to the Supreme Court.
As of 2018, the Supreme Court has overturned 115 cases in
the previous decade referred from the 9th Circuit. This is a 76% overturn rate.
“Covering nine western states along with the territorial
courts of Guam and North Mariana Islands, the 9th Circuit handles a massive
caseload and refers three times the number of cases to SCOTUS as the next most
active court,” PJ Media reported.
However, the 9th Circuit has undergone a massive overhaul
under the Trump administration.
“The 9th Circuit includes 13 district courts, presided
over by a total of 112 judges. The Circuit Court of Appeals, in turn, has 29
justices, meaning that 15 constitute a majority,” PJ Media added. A’s of
November, President Trump had appointed eight new justices to vacancies on the
Circuit Court.”
The latest change came on Wednesday, when the U.S. Senate
confirmed Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lawrence VanDyke of Montana. He
previously served as assistant solicitor general for Texas, and solicitor
general for both Montana and Nevada.
LifeNews.com reports that pro-life groups are ecstatic
about the nomination:
“We congratulate Lawrence VanDyke on his confirmation. He
will be an outstanding addition to the 9th Circuit,” said SBA List President
Marjorie Dannenfelser. “His distinguished record makes him highly qualified to
serve on the federal bench. He is a committed and strong constitutionalist who
will uphold the values and deeply held beliefs of our nation. VanDyke joins the
ranks of over 150 judges confirmed to the court by President Trump – judges of
the highest caliber with respect for the Constitution and the rights of all
people. We are very pleased to see him confirmed.”
Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life told LifeNews.com that President Trump has been sucessful in remaking the federal appeals court. With the Senate’s confirmation this week of Patrick Bumatay and Lawrence VanDyke for the Ninth Circuit, the president has now seated more than 170 federal judges, including his two Supreme Court nominees.
Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life told LifeNews.com that President Trump has been sucessful in remaking the federal appeals court. With the Senate’s confirmation this week of Patrick Bumatay and Lawrence VanDyke for the Ninth Circuit, the president has now seated more than 170 federal judges, including his two Supreme Court nominees.
“With the confirmation this week of two judges for the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, President Trump continues to make good on his
promise to end liberal judicial activism on the federal bench. With 13 of 29
judges on the court appointed by Republican presidents, the liberal rubber
stamp of the Ninth Circuit has been stilled.”
The 9th Circuit is just one example of Trump’s impact.
President Trump has appointed over 170 justices to the
federal court throughout the nation.
This includes two Supreme Court justices.
Is Trump finally ready to turn his sights toward remaking
the 9th Circuit Court?
Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who both serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee,
converse in June.
(Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call)
By Sarah D. WireStaff Writer
Aug. 16, 2018 1:30 PM
Reporting from Washington —
There’s been a noticeable exception to President Trump’s
otherwise successful effort to appoint young, conservative judges to the
nation’s appellate courts: the liberal-leaning U.S. 9th Circuit, which has
jurisdiction over California and eight other Western states.
Since Trump took office, the Senate has confirmed only
one 9th Circuit judge — in Hawaii — leaving seven openings. A nominee in Oregon
was abruptly withdrawn last month when it became clear he lacked the votes for
Senate approval.
For the record:
1:25 PM, Aug. 16, 2018 An earlier version of this story said there
were 11 court openings nationwide. As of this week, there are 12.
And Trump has yet to even nominate anyone for the three
vacancies in California, partly because of a standoff with Democratic Sens.
Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris.
That’s a stark contrast to Trump’s record on appointments
of appeals court judges elsewhere in the country. The Senate has confirmed a
record 26 new circuit court judges nationwide in 20 months — including two
approved on Thursday.
Now, however, there are signs that the administration is
beginning to set its sights on the 9th Circuit, likely triggering a bruising
fight with Democrats.
The strongest indication came in a recent fight over the
nomination of Ryan W. Bounds to a 9th Circuit vacancy in Oregon.
Oregon’s two Democratic senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff
Merkley, opposed Bounds and refused to issue their so-called blue slips, a
century-old courtesy in which senators are asked to sign off on nominees from
their home state.
In the past, rejection by both home state senators was
enough to effectively kill a nomination. But for the first time, Judiciary
Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) brushed off the home senators’
views and moved forward without their approval.
Bounds’ nomination ultimately failed because some of his
old racially charged writings raised doubts among enough senators, including at
least one Republican, that the
White House withdrew his nomination.
But the precedent of breaking with the blue-slip
tradition showed that Trump and the Republican-led Senate were ready to adopt a
tougher stance, which has deep implications for the 9th Circuit. Four of the
nine states the circuit covers have two Democratic senators.
Why the administration and Senate leadership are
hardening their approach now is unclear. One possibility, however, is that
Trump is simply running out of vacancies in other circuits.
“They’ve been focusing on lower-hanging fruit,” said Ilya
Shapiro, a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute.
“After a while, there are only so many seats to fill.”
About two-thirds of the 12 appeals court vacancies
remaining nationwide are on the 9th Circuit.
Two administration nominees to the 9th Circuit have moved
through the process without much controversy. Idaho’s Republican senators
support Trump nominee Ryan D. Nelson, and he is expected to win confirmation
later this year.
Hawaii’s two Democratic senators enthusiastically backed
Trump nominee Judge Mark J. Bennett as a consensus pick who had already been
vetted by their review committees. He was approved in July by a 72-27 vote.
But filling the rest of the vacancies will not be so
easy.
Trump nominated appellate attorney Eric D. Miller of
Washington, though he was not recommended by the review committee created by
the state’s senators, Democrats Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell. Murray says
she’s reserving judgment on Miller, but Cantwell’s office immediately signaled
another potential fight ahead, telling the Seattle Times that “the senator did
not and does not consent to Eric Miller’s nomination.”
In Arizona, where Trump doesn’t get along with either
Republican senator, he’s held off on appointments, as well.
In California, talks between the administration and the
state’s senators appear to have stalled.
The White House floated some potential names, which the
senators’ review committees have examined. In early May, Harris and Feinstein
recommended three potential judges to the White House. Neither side would say
if there was any overlap between the two groups, but the lack of any nomination
suggests there was not.
A White House official said the president intended to
fill the 9th Circuit vacancies with more conservatives, but would not provide
any timeline.
The recent focus on completing the confirmation of Judge
Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court could be delaying action in the 9th
Circuit, though it hasn’t stopped the Senate from voting on other judicial
nominees.
Feinstein said in a statement that the White House and
the two senators were working to come to consensus.
Reshaping the 9th Circuit has long been a conservative
goal, one that the Trump administration has plenty of incentive to pursue.
Since Trump’s inauguration, 9th Circuit judges have ruled that he couldn’t
legally bar tens of
thousands of visitors and immigrants from several mostly Muslim nations from
entering the country (a decision the Supreme Court overturned).
They’ve also forced him to continue
processing renewal applications of immigrants previously approved
for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which Trump ended.
Given the history, “I thought they would have moved more
aggressively,” San Francisco appellate attorney Ben Feuer said.
Though Trump is within striking distance of flipping some
circuits from a majority of Democratic appointees to a majority of Republican
appointees, the best he can hope for so far in the 9th would be increasing the
conservative presence on the court.
Before Trump took office, the 9th Circuit had 20
Democratic and nine Republican appointees. If Trump filled all the current
openings with conservatives, the balance would be 16 Democratic appointees to
13 Republican appointees.
Trump’s best chance to reshape the 9th Circuit would come
from filling two vacant California seats once held by liberal lions: Judge
Harry Pregerson, who took a reduced workload in 2015 and died in
late 2017, and Judge Stephen Reinhardt, who died
unexpectedly in March. Both were President Carter appointees and
were considered among the most left-leaning judges in the country.
Judge Alex Kozinski, a conservative on most issues, who
was appointed by President Reagan, retired in December amid accusations
of sexual misconduct, creating a third California vacancy.
Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary
Committee, is livid about Republicans’ willingness to move forward without the
blue slips and has warned them publicly against proposing nominees in
California that she and Harris don’t support.
“It’s no secret that President Trump and Republicans want
to reshape the 9th Circuit and we will not accept unwarranted, partisan attacks
on our courts,” Feinstein said in March. “I am fully committed to ensuring that
9th Circuit nominees reflect our state’s communities and values and are
well-regarded by their local bench and bar.”
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