Trump's judges will call the shots for years to come. The judicial system is broken

[turbinetree]

Shira A Scheindlin

For many Americans, Donald Trump will be remembered as the first US president to be twice impeached, to have supported, or even incited, an insurrection against democracy, and for allowing thousands to die due to his abject failure to lead the nation in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. But for many other Americans, his true legacy will be his enduring impact on the third branch – the federal judiciary.

The expansion of executive power, and the diminishment of legislative power due to partisan gridlock, is a well-known story. Governing by executive order has become the new normal. But it is the stealthy and steady rise of the power of the judicial branch that has caught many Americans off-guard.

Federal judges have life tenure. Once they are appointed they remain in office until they retire or die. The president appoints every federal judge and these appointments have very long-term consequences. A look at Trump’s record of appointments reveals a relentless commitment to cementing his peculiar and idiosyncratic ideology. In short, he and his sidekick, former majority leader Mitch McConnell, did all they could to entrench an actively conservative judiciary.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/25/trump-judges-supreme-court-justices-judiciary

I am a supporter of expanding the courts....

[elleng]

1. Prez Biden is doing the same:

Myrna Perez was just confirmed by the Senate to a lifetime apointment to the 2nd Circuit.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215982848

[TomSlick]

2. True but only to an extent.

Absent unexpected deaths or retirements, the balance on the Supreme Court cannot be improved for years.

[elleng]

3. Obviously, the Supremes are unique;

who expected scalia to die (when he did?)

[TomSlick]

6. "Unique" is a good word.

You made me do the research. The current justices:

Clarence Thomas - Age 73
Stephen Breyer - Age 83
John G. Roberts - Age 66
Samuel A. Alito, Jr. - Age 71
Sonia Sotomayor - Age 67
Elena Kagan - Age 61
Neil McGill Gorsuch - Age 54
Brett Michael Kavanaugh - Age 56
Amy Coney Barrett - Age 49

So long as SCOTUS remains so skewed to the right, there is a limit to what the Courts of Appeal and District Courts can do.

I fear that in the near term, the best we can hope for is to maintain the current - sorry - balance.

[UTUSN]

4. K&R

[Hoyt]

5. While certainly not predictive of the big issues before Supreme Court now,

they did hold firm on trump’s election junk.