WASHINGTON — The Democratic-led Senate on Wednesday confirmed President Joe Biden’s 200th federal judge nomination, a step that highlights a stark contrast with his electoral rival, Republican former President Donald Trump, as they seek to shape the courts over the next four years.
“Reaching 200 justices is a major milestone,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “Our federal justice system is now much more balanced, much more diverse and much more experienced. »
It is unclear whether Biden will catch up to the 234 justices Trump obtained during his presidential term. But the winners of the presidency and the Senate majority in the 2024 elections will have the power to shape the courts for the next few years, and the two men have radically different criteria in choosing candidates.
The occupant of the White House for his next term could even choose one or more new justices to the Supreme Court, which could modify or consolidate the current conservative majority of 6 votes to 3. When the winner is sworn in, the Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas will be 76 years old and conservative Justice Samuel Alito will be 74 years old. The next oldest member of the court is liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who will turn 70. Chief Justice John Roberts will be 70 years old. one week after the swearing-in.
“Father time continues. There could be vacancies for whoever wins. And we could all get hit by a car tomorrow,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a candidate to chair the Judiciary Committee if Republicans win the Senate majority. “But the four years of presidency – one of the biggest prizes is the court. So some Republicans may be thinking, “Now is the time for me to leave so that my replacement will be someone of my philosophy,” and vice versa.
In addition to selecting new justices, the two parties have different visions for the Supreme Court: Democrats say they are considering new rules, such as a binding ethics code and impeachment standards for judges, and a role more active in court supervision. Republicans, satisfied with the conservative majority they have built, are announcing a hands-off approach that would preserve the Court’s existing structure.
Graham said the issues in the court election could be summed up simply as: “More conservative if we win.” More liberal if they win.
The criminal records of Biden and Trump
But even though Biden reached the 200 mark earlier in his presidency than Trump, he lags behind the most influential courts. Biden has chosen one Supreme Court justice, compared to Trump’s two at this point. Biden has landed 42 appeals court judges — who have the final say on most federal cases, which never reach the high court — compared to Trump’s 51 at this point.
Biden’s judges include many former civil rights attorneys, labor lawyers and public defenders, breaking from the mold of prosecutors and business lawyers that previous presidents tended to rely on. More than 60% of Biden’s judges are women and more than 60% are nonwhite, the White House said. He said he has placed more black women on circuit courts than all previous presidents combined and more Hispanic and Asian American judges than any other president.
“For decades, Joe Biden has worked to protect and strengthen the integrity of our justice system – and as president, he has appointed the most diverse slate of federal judges ever, all committed to the Constitution and the Rule of law,” Biden said. campaign spokesman Charles Lutvak said in an email.
“Trump spent four years trying to reshape the courts to overturn the election he lost and deny Americans’ basic rights. But if he gets four more years, it will be even worse: he will appoint people who share his extreme ideology. This election is nothing less than a choice between democracy and dictatorship,” he added.
Trump had a different standard in selecting judges, emphasizing youth and conservative qualifications. He chose a much larger share of white and male candidates than Biden and a smaller share of non-white Americans than his three predecessors, according to the Pew Research Institute.
In 2022, Biden chose Ketanji Brown Jackson, a former public defender, to be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court; she has since become a reliable member of the liberal bloc. It is unclear whether Biden will have another vacancy to fill before the November election. In his four years in office, Trump has chosen three members of the conservative bloc – all aged 55 or younger at the time of their nomination.
“I faced vile attacks from the radical left to confirm three great Supreme Court justices: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. They are awesome. Oh, they were thrilled when I got three,” Trump said Saturday at the National Rifle Association convention.
In his speech, Trump recalled speaking to one of his “people” while he was president, who told him about judicial nominees: “We like people in their 30s, so they’re here for 50 or 40 years old. »
Trump said he remembers thinking, “Yes, they’re absolutely right. »
Democrats are interested in the Supreme Court’s ethics rules
On Democrats’ priority list is Supreme Court ethics legislation, a cause fueled this week by reports that an upside-down American flag was flying outside Alito’s home days after the attack January 6 against the Capitol, when rioters brandished the symbol in an attempt to overturn the law. the outcome of the 2020 election and keeping Trump in power.
“We have a lot of bills that we want to introduce, but this is one of them that deserves a lot of attention,” Schumer told reporters Tuesday, adding that it was “really a bad thing to do” on Alito’s part, “and this casts doubt on his impartiality (.Alio hasld Fox News that his wife hung the flag during an argument with neighbors.)
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., defended Alito when asked about the upside-down flag and whether Alito should recuse himself from Trump-related matters.
“There are incessant attacks on the Supreme Court, week after week. And so I’m not going to dignify that with an answer. We have to leave the Supreme Court alone,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “Protect them from people who entered their neighborhoods and tried to harm them. »
The progressive advocacy group Stand Up America wants to go further, encouraging Democrats to run for office to overhaul the Supreme Court. He commissioned a national poll by Democratic firm Hart Research Associates, first shared with NBC News, that found overwhelming support for term limits on judges. By a margin of 64% to 24%, registered voters favored 18-year terms for current and future judges, which would allow each president to fill two vacancies in a four-year term.
When the poll asked voters how they would react if a congressional candidate supported limiting the justice’s term to 18 years, 45% said it would make them “more likely” to vote for them, while 20% said that this would make them “less susceptible”. ” and 35% said it would have “no effect in either case.”
(Hart Research Associates is co-conducting the NBC News investigation with GOP pollster Public Opinion Strategies.)
A White House spokesperson noted that Biden had endorsed the Supreme Court ethics and transparency legislation, but did not say whether he favored term limits for justices.
Democrats, who are defending a fragile 51-vote Senate majority in a tough election cycle, say they worry the Supreme Court will shift to the right if they don’t win the election.
“I don’t even want to think about it. I have enough sources of anxiety and sadness,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “It’s a scary idea, because obviously any number of them could resign at any time to make way for the next wave of far-right MAGA judges, who aren’t really judges, just politicians in a dress.”
News Source : www.nbcnews.com
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