(LifeSiteNews) – While the mainstream media are obsessed with producing wave after wave of stories about President Trump’s alleged Russian collusion and leaks within the still nascent administration, the White House has been humming along like a fine-tuned machine, filling federal judiciary vacancies at a record pace.
And the President is filling those empty seats with conservative jurists. It seems that his nomination of now Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch was just the beginning of a trend welcomed wholeheartedly by conservative Americans.
And all of this is occurring under the radar, because most news media are focused on maintaining well-established narratives about Trump and his administration.
Trump’s unprecedented opportunity to reshape the federal judiciary
“For several months, we have been highlighting the unique opportunity presented to Donald Trump to reshape the federal judiciary,” writes William A. Jacobson at Legal Insurrection. “That opportunity has largely been lost in a liberal media trying to take down Trump over Russia, Russia, Russia.”
Jacobson continues, “As we have pointed out repeatedly, Trump has an unprecedented opportunity to nominate a substantial percentage of the federal judiciary.
“There are currently over 100 vacancies, and many more are likely to open up. Yet Democrats, so blinded by the light of #TheResistance, appeared oblivious to the approaching Tsunami of Trump lower court nominations.”
Jacobsen said in January that Trump could end up appointing half of the federal judiciary.
The New Yorker’s Jeffrey Toobin points out, “So while the public watches Trump churn through White House staff members, his administration is humming along nicely in filling federal judgeships, with the enthusiastic assistance of the Republican majority in the Senate.”
“[T]he Senate voted to close debate on Kevin Newsom, the nominee for the Eleventh Circuit. His actual confirmation, which is now a foregone conclusion, will take place in the next few days. Newsom resembles many Trump nominees to the federal bench. He has excellent formal qualifications, including a degree from Harvard Law School, a Supreme Court clerkship, and a stint as the solicitor general of Alabama, where he excelled at defending the state’s imposition of capital punishment against legal challenges. Most notably, Newsom is also young for a federal judge — just 45 … In light of his age, Newsom will likely serve for decades after the Trump Presidency has concluded.”
‘The biggest political story most journalists are missing’
Commentator Don Surber points out the importance of all of President Trump’s judiciary appointments. “The Republic can survive a bad president, but not a bad Supreme Court. Dred Scott v. Sanford led to a civil war four years later.”
He goes on, “But the importance of lower court judges came to full view when a Hawaiian judge appointed by Obama ignored the Constitution and imperiled the nation by banning President Trump from temporarily stopping visitors from six war-torn countries and Iran.”
“The press is missing this story because the press is obsessed with impeaching the president with that Fake News about Russian collusion. It was manufactured by Fusion GPS, a group that did opposition work for the Democratic Party in 2012, and (wait for it) the Russian government.”
James Warren writing at Poynter says, “Donald Trump’s mercurial, chaotic ways are the overriding narrative of his early White House days. But most of the press misses his discipline in one crucial area: filling vacancies on federal courts.”
“[President Trump] may be lax in filling many administrative posts, but it’s just not true with the courts,” adds Warren. “The reality underscores a gaping hole in journalism … How often do major media outlets pay serious attention to the appointment of district court and appeals judges, beyond the occasional overtly controversial selection?”
Getting the job done
Working with a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, President Trump is getting the job done filling long vacant judicial seats.
President Trump has nominated Thomas Farr to fill a post in North Carolina that has been vacant since 2005. Sen. Thom Tillis said via a press release that Farr “is widely respected as one of the best legal minds in North Carolina.”
The Washington Times reported that the president is also “tapping attorney Michael B. Brennan of Wisconsin to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, a seat that has been vacant since 2010, longest in the appellate system.”
The move has caused a bit of a stir in the Badger State, especially among liberal politicos. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who got her start as the first openly lesbian member of the Wisconsin Assembly, complained that “a bipartisan Wisconsin commission that signs off on federal nominees never approved” and “did not recommend Brennan,” according to the news agency.
A steamroller, thanks to Harry Reid
Many Washington lawyers and pundits say the President – and the Republic – owe a great debt of gratitude to former Senate Majority Harry Reid, who has made it easy for the President to fill empty judicial seats.
Don Surber explained that “Reid nuked the traditional safeguards about making a bad lifetime judicial appointment — not that the safeguards actually worked. Now President Trump is raking the benefits of Reid’s rogue rule reform.”
“Indeed, President Trump is ignoring Democratic senatorial recommendations. In the past, senators gave a president three nominees for the lower court to choose from.
“No more.”
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