This certainly gives context to the bleating we’re hearing from a certain ‘wise Latina’ about the politicization of the judiciary, doesn’t it?
She blasted her peers for carrying Trump’s water but somehow had nothing to say about the Chief Justice jumping through hoops to make ObamaCare ‘comply’ with the law, in direct contradiction of specific descriptions about the policy made by the government itself.
But now that the pendulum has started shifting AWAY from the Progressive wing of the courts, NOW, Sotomayor’s political scruples are suddenly offended.
Why is she suddenly speaking out? Probably because she sees the Left losing a valuable tool in their power base. Even as they have been making cultural inroads, they have been losing their LEGAL enforcement tools… including politically friendly courts.
In few places has the effect been felt more powerfully than in the sprawling 9th Circuit, which covers California and eight other states. Because of Trump’s success in filling vacancies, the San Francisco-based circuit, long dominated by Democratic appointees, has suddenly shifted to the right, with an even more pronounced tilt expected in the years ahead.
Trump has now named 10 judges to the 9th Circuit — more than one-third of its active judges — compared with seven appointed by President Obama over eight years.
“Trump has effectively flipped the circuit,” said 9th Circuit Judge Milan D. Smith Jr., an appointee of President George W. Bush.
…To be sure, some of the new appointees to the 9th Circuit have quickly won the respect of their colleagues. But the rapid influx of so many judges — most without judicial experience — has put strains upon the court and stirred criticism among judges appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents.
“Ten new people at once sends a shock wave through the system,” a 9th Circuit judge said. — LA Times
Many of the Trump appointees (not surprisingly) are not the kind who will step-and-fetch to the political party line. They know their own mind, and are not afraid to dissent from the prevailing opinion if they believe they are in the right.
We are seeing a shift toward moderation in the make-up of the overall court system, having previously had a reputation for being frequently overturned on appeal.
The 9th Circuit court has been dominated by Democratic appointees for decades. In 1978, a federal law created 10 new judgeships on the court, allowing President Carter to fill them all. The liberal Carter appointees were followed by judges named by three Republican presidents and two Democrats.
Clinton’s and Obama’s appointees were not uniformly liberal, however, and the 9th Circuit has been growing more moderate. One study, examining the years 2010 to 2015, found that the 9th Circuit was the third most reversed by the Supreme Court, following the Ohio-based 6th and Georgia-based 11th circuits.
Still, with Democratic nominees heavily outnumbering Republicans, there were usually enough votes to overturn conservative decisions by three-judge panels. — LA Times
Trump was elected, in part, to reign in the runaway activism we’ve seen in the courts.
If even the ‘9th Circus’ is feeling ‘a shock wave through the system’, you could say this is another example of ‘promises made, promises kept’.
