McConnell reaches milestone on judges by filling final Circuit Court vacancy

This will be very bad for the environment, workers, women, minorities, the poor, anybody but the power elite.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mcconnell-reaches-milestone-judges-filling-final-circuit-court-vacancy-n1232011

June 24, 2020, 12:37 PM EDT / Updated June 24, 2020, 5:54 PM EDT
By Leigh Ann Caldwell and Sahil Kapur


Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday reached a significant milestone during the Trump presidency by filling the final vacancy on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, an achievement that fulfills his goal of remaking the federal judiciary as more conservative for a generation but also one that is less diverse.

McConnell, who has vowed to “leave no vacancy behind,” heralded the achievement on the Senate floor Wednesday, noting that there hasn’t been a fully appointed Circuit Court in decades.

•••••

The conservative shift of the court under President Donald Trump and McConnell is not just ideological — the federal courts have also become younger, more white and more male.

Nearly 76 percent of the judicial confirmations under Trump are men compared with 58 percent during President Barack Obama’s tenure, according to data collected by the American Constitution Society.

The racial disparity has also grown under Trump as well. Eighty-five percent of his confirmations have been white compared with 64 percent under Obama. Eighteen percent of Obama’s confirmations were Black compared to 4 percent under Trump.

•••••

The final vacancy on the Circuit Courts, Trump’s 53rd confirmation, was filled Wednesday when the Senate voted 52-48 to confirm Cory Wilson for the 5th Circuit. All Senate Democrats and one Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, voted against him because of his stated opposition to the Affordable Care Act. He is 49 years old.

•••••

The large numbers of vacancies facing Trump weren't an accident. McConnell took over the Senate in January 2015 and held votes on just two Circuit Court judges during Obama's last two years in office. And McConnell has made confirming judges central to his tenure as majority leader.

•••••

"Nearly a third of the nation's Circuit Court judges were picked by Trump and confirmed by Republican senators,” Paul Gordon, senior legislative counsel for the liberal judicial organization People for the American Way. “Not even one of those judges is African American, and they are making decisions with devastating impacts on the lives of Black people."

•••••