Earlier this week, Trump commented on a judge from the 9th Circuit that blocked his decision to restrict people to do asylum in ports of entry and increase the barrier of asylum. “The Obama judges are not enforcing the law.’ He was criticised by Chief Justice Roberts,’ “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.”[1] However, the reality is many Obama judges disregard the principles of law, vowing to block the Trump agenda by weaponizing the constitution.
The liberal-leaning federal court 9th circuit has the highest percentage of cases being overturned by the Supreme Court. The circuit has 2.5 out of 1000 of their cases overturned from 1994-2015, which nearly doubles the second runner-up, the 6th circuit, and they are deemed as the most liberal-leaning federal court.[2] The cases overturned including the Muslim Ban which is within the power of the president and is constitutional.[3] When liberal-leaning judges after the Obama era, which is the majority in the federal courts, disregard the law and constitution together to block the agenda of the president, the whole of America will suffer.
This is why we should say no to this trend, to try to save the country, to try to reverse it. When judges become too powerful, disregarding the constitution (interpreting the constitution at their free will), courts become ground zero for politics (composed of mere supporters of their own party), the balance of power altered, the free will of the democratically-elected congress members disregarded.
That’s why we really need more conservatives to be filled into the vacant seats and they can make a real impact. Not only in the two supreme court seats filled in the first year, by Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh(Ruth Ginsberg hopefully will be replaced too), but also in federal and district courts. Trump is filling the positions at tremendous speed with 23 judges appointed to the appellant court in two years, more than double Obama’s appointees.[4]
This will have a huge effect for decades to come. In Mississippi and Louisiana, antiabortion advocates are attempting to have courts overturning Roe v Wade, to respect the life of the foetus again. 5In other states, conservatives are also battling against the re-gerrymandering from the Democrats. The nation is battling against the migrant crisis and the caravan. With the whole nation at a crisis, these judges can help tip the balance of the courts again, stopping the liberal bias. What’s more important is the 2020 election. Only if Trump and the Republicans win, the movement of filling the bench with conservatives can keep going and the courts can be reshaped.
Trump, wishing you every success in the next two years and in your 2020 re-election.
Timothy Cheung
Politics Section Feature Writer
30 November 2018
[1] Huggins T, ‘Chief Justice John Roberts defends federa judges against Trump’s attack in a rare public statement’ (CNBC, 21 November 2018) [https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/21/chief-justice-john-roberts-pushes-back-on-trump-criticism-of-judges.html] accessed 27 November 2018
[2] Qiu L,‘Does the Ninth Circuit have the highest reversal rate of the country?’(New York Times, 26 November 2018 [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/26/us/politics/factcheck-trump-ninth-circuit.html] accessed 27 November 2018
[3] Richard Wolf,‘Supreme Court Uphold President Trump’s Travel ban against majoritymuslim countries’(USA Today, 26 June 2018) [https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/06/26/supreme-court-upholds-president-trump-immigration-travel-ban/701110002/] accessed 27 November 2018
[4] Cairney J,’Republicans Confirming Trump’s nominee at record pace’ (The Hill,5 January, 2018) [https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/385728-republicans-confirming-trumpscourt-nominees-at-record-pace] accessed 27 November 2018
[5] North A,’ How Trump Inspire a New Wave of Abortion Laws’ (VOX, 21 November 2018)
[https://www.vox.com/2018/3/22/17143454/trump-ohio-heartbeat-bill-abortion-banmississippi] accessed 27 November 2018
Disclaimer: The views expressed are that of the individual author. All rights are reserved to the original authors of the materials consulted, which are identified in the footnotes above.
Comentários