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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump is having his revenge on California as he remakes once-liberal 9th Circuit court (LAT)
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-22/could-the-changing-makeup-of-the-9th-circuit-end-california-exceptionalismTrump is having his revenge on California as he remakes once-liberal 9th Circuit court
By JULIA WICK
DEC. 22, 2019 12:09 PM
There are the big, juicy political developments, of the sort that require double-sized headlines on front pages and, eventually, their own chapters in history books.
And there are the quiet, incremental ones. But both matter.
Last week, the world watched as articles of impeachment against President Trump were first introduced in Congress, five days before they were approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in a historic vote.
But something else also happened in the Capitol last week that could affect California, and other western states, for decades to come.
The U.S. Senate confirmed two more Trump nominees to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, a powerful federal appeals court long regarded as a liberal bastion. (The reality of that reputation has starkly waned in recent years, but more on that below.)
Judges Lawrence VanDyke and Patrick Bumatay, who are both in their 40s, will serve lifetime appointments. Their ascent to the bench means that Trump appointees now account for more than a third of the active judges on the very same court that the president has repeatedly attacked as being adversarial to his agenda.
The San Francisco-based 9th Circuit is inherently no more powerful than any of the other 12 circuit courts, but it is a whole lot bigger. It has jurisdiction over an area that spans roughly 1.4 million square miles and encompasses more than 60 million people in nine western states and two Pacific Island territories. Its played an outsize role in American political discourse serving as both a boogeyman to conservatives, and an icon of judicial activism to those on the left.
mahina
(17,705 posts)diva77
(7,659 posts)with his massive rigging of the courts with judges who will establish a vast kangaroo court system.
k&r for exposure
bluecollar2
(3,622 posts)KT2000
(20,588 posts)that has been going on while media obsesses over his tweets.
Raine
(30,540 posts)while this was going on.
Martin Eden
(12,875 posts)... all Trump's judicial appointments (including SCOTUS) would be removed and Hillary Clinton installed as president, right?
If not, then impeachment is really about upholding Constitutional rule of law -- not overturning an election.
So much damage is already done, and not just on the judicial front. The effects of 2016 may be worse than 2000, with Rethugs installed after losing the popular vote.
pwb
(11,292 posts)So they are mostly replacing pukes with pukes.
former9thward
(32,082 posts)People die or become infirm so vacancies are created. The body does not discriminate based on politics. People get tired of the job and move on. Vacancies are created. People want to earn more elsewhere as they get near retirement age or maybe when their families expand. Vacancies are created.
pwb
(11,292 posts)I still think democratically appointed judges will stay if they can, rather than give up the seat. No is a strong lead there friend.
StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)But we were ignored and brushed aside by the media and the "not the lesser of two evils" purists.
Link to tweet