S*******i
发帖数: 2018 | 1 Scalias All the Way Down
While the press goes wild over tweets, Trump is remaking the federal
judiciary.
Ask most Republicans to identify Donald Trump’s biggest triumph to date,
and the answer comes quick: Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. That’s the
cramped view.
The media remains so caught up with the president’s tweets that it has
missed Mr. Trump’s project to transform the rest of the federal judiciary.
The president is stocking the courts with a class of brilliant young
textualists bearing little relation to even their Reagan or Bush
predecessors. Mr. Trump’s nastygrams to Bob Corker will be a distant memory
next week. Notre Dame law professor Amy Coney Barrett’s influence on the
Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could still be going strong 40 years
from now.
Mr. Trump has now nominated nearly 60 judges, filling more vacancies than
Barack Obama did in his entire first year. There are another 160 court
openings, allowing Mr. Trump to flip or further consolidate conservative
majorities on the circuit courts that have the final say on 99% of federal
legal disputes.
This project is the work of Mr. Trump, White House Counsel Don McGahn and
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Every new president cares about the
judiciary, but no administration in memory has approached appointments with
more purpose than this team.
Mr. Trump makes the decisions, though he’s taking cues from Mr. McGahn and
his team. The Bushies preferred a committee approach: Dozens of advisers
hunted for the least controversial nominee with the smallest paper trail.
That helped get picks past a Senate filibuster, but it led to bland choices,
or to ideological surprises like retired Justice David Souter.
Harry Reid’s 2013 decision to blow up the filibuster for judicial nominees
has freed the Trump White House from having to worry about a Democratic veto
during confirmation. Mr. McGahn’s team (loaded with former Clarence Thomas
clerks) has carte blanche to work with outside groups like the Federalist
Society to tap the most conservative judges.
Mr. McGahn has long been obsessed with constitutional law and the risks of
an all-powerful administrative state. His crew isn’t subjecting candidates
to 1980s-style litmus tests on issues like abortion. Instead the focus is on
promoting jurists who understand the unique challenges of our big-
government times. Can the prospective nominee read a statute? Does he or she
defer to the government’s view of its own authority? The result has been a
band of young rock stars and Scalia-style textualists like Ms. Barrett,
Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett and Minnesota Supreme Court
Associate Justice David Stras.
Senate Republicans have so far blown their major agenda items, but they’ve
remained unified on judges. They agreed to kill the Senate filibuster for
Supreme Court nominees so as to confirm Justice Gorsuch; have confirmed six
other judicial nominees; and stand ready to greenlight dozens more. This is
a big shift from divisions the party had over the Bush 41 and Bush 43
nominees.
Because Mr. Trump’s picks have largely spent their careers focused on
administrative law and constitutional questions, few have gotten bogged down
by controversial cultural rulings. They do have paper trails, but mostly on
serious and technical issues. This helps reassure Republicans even as it
deprives Democrats of the fodder they’d need to stage dramatic opposition.
Conservatives praised Mr. McConnell last year for refusing to consider Judge
Merrick Garland, whom Mr. Obama had nominated to the Supreme Court. Less
well known is the sheer number of federal judgeships Mr. McConnell sat on as
the Obama administration wound down. Mr. Trump took office with 107 lower-
court vacancies, more than any of the past five presidents save Bill Clinton
. The GOP challenge now is to break Democratic obstruction and get those
posts filled.
Former Trump aide Steve Bannon is vowing to primary at least six GOP
senators next year, saying he will support only candidates who refuse to
back Mr. McConnell for another stint as leader. But Mr. Bannon’s claim that
Mr. McConnell represents the “swamp” is lazy scapegoating. Yes, health-
care reform failed—thanks to three showboating Republican senators. And yes
, the House gets more done. But only the Senate is in the long-term
personnel business.
The Trump judicial reset was never guaranteed. Mr. McConnell just happens to
have a steely passion for remaking the judiciary. Previous majority leaders
Trent Lott (best friends with trial lawyers) and Bill Frist (nice, nice)
would never have gotten Justice Gorsuch confirmed. Those guys were the “
establishment.”
Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Joni Ernst, Deb Fischer, Dan Sullivan, Cory Gardner,
Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton —this is the new generation of Republican senators.
They were all elected in recent cycles. They are reformers, far removed
from the earmarking, logrolling, crony, backroom days of washed-out
Republicans who inspired the tea party.
The country has moved, as has Congress. The proof is in the extraordinary
class of judicial nominees now coming through. Mr. Trump will keep baiting
the media with shiny objects. In the background, government is being redone.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/scalias-all-the-way-down-1507847435
读者评论：
“Every time people have a meltdown over a tweet, this is what I'm thinking:
"Mr. Trump will keep baiting the media with shiny objects. In the background
, government is being redone."
I'm glad to see the judiciary being redone with people who apply the
Constitution and the law, not activists rewriting it on a whim. THIS is
where Hillary would have been most damaging, by far, and where Obama
arguably did the most damage to the Republic.” | l*******z
发帖数: 4276 | 2 贴个全文，看不了？
thinking:
background
【在 S*******i 的大作中提到】
: Scalias All the Way Down
: While the press goes wild over tweets, Trump is remaking the federal
: judiciary.
: Ask most Republicans to identify Donald Trump’s biggest triumph to date,
: and the answer comes quick: Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. That’s the
: cramped view.
: The media remains so caught up with the president’s tweets that it has
: missed Mr. Trump’s project to transform the rest of the federal judiciary.
: The president is stocking the courts with a class of brilliant young
: textualists bearing little relation to even their Reagan or Bush
| S*******i
发帖数: 2018 | 3 贴了
【在 l*******z 的大作中提到】
: 贴个全文，看不了？
:
: thinking:
: background
| T******g
发帖数: 21328 | | k******0
发帖数: 2438 | 5 左边做梦川总疯了，啥事没干
川总忙得不得了，恨不得补齐所有法官，同时推翻所有奥八遗迹。 | C*******3
发帖数: 653 | | n****G
发帖数: 1191 | |
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