Feb. 10, 2020
Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.
Republican Presidents including Trump will have appointed a majority of federal judges before the end of 2020
One of the effects
of the Senate impeachment’s abrupt conclusion in President Donald Trump’s favor
is that the Republican Senate can get right on with the business of confirming
constitutionalists to federal court, of which Trump recently touted 191 having
been confirmed. Since 1952, presidents have averaged 163 judges confirmed per
term of office, which puts Trump well ahead of the game compared to other
presidents. There are only 81 vacancies now, and 25 nominations pending, giving
the President and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) a clear window
to get even more judges confirmed this year. Now, almost 50.8 percent of
current federal judges have been appointed by Democratic presidents — 404 to
390 — according to the latest data from the Federal Judicial Center. Just
consider that, to get to parity between the political parties on federal courts
has taken three years of a Republican president, just to get it even. And even
then, Republicans still don’t have a majority of judges, but they will soon. If
the remaining 81 vacancies are filled, that number will fall to 46 percent,
giving Republicans 54 percent of federal judges. Maybe that’s why Democrats
wanted to slow down the Senate in 2020 with an endless impeachment trial.
Video: Trump vindicated on impeachment and economy as campaign begins
In spite of the
failed impeachment attempt by Democrats, President Donald Trump is getting trade
deals done and the economy is booming, all in time for 2020.
Video: Russiagate and Ukraine witch hunts have damaged the ability of future presidents to prevent a war
Is it a good idea
to create a climate where the U.S. and Russia, the world’s foremost nuclear
powers with thousands of nuclear weapons pointed at one another, cannot engage
each other diplomatically?
Joel Pollak: Obama’s Oscar-winning ‘American Factory’ omits his own role in Ohio factory’s closing
“Former President
Barack Obama played a direct role in the hardships of the workers featured in
American Factory, the Oscar-winning documentary his new production company
produced. The former president and First Lady Michelle Obama are celebrating
the Oscar win for their new production company, Higher Ground, which saw
American Factory win Best Documentary Feature on Sunday evening. The film follows
the travails of a shuttered General Motors factory in Ohio that is re-opened by
Chinese investors, who save American jobs but encounter cultural and economic
clashes with American workers. But as Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), the former mayor
of nearby Dayton, Ohio, wrote last year, the movie leaves out President Obama’s
own role in making life worse for the GM workers who lost their jobs.”
Republican Presidents including Trump will have appointed a majority of federal judges before the end of 2020
One of the effects of the Senate impeachment’s abrupt conclusion in President Donald Trump’s favor is that the Republican Senate can get right on with the business of confirming constitutionalists to federal court, of which Trump recently touted 191 having been confirmed.
Since 1952, presidents have averaged 163 judges confirmed per term of office, which puts Trump well ahead of the game compared to other presidents. There are only 81 vacancies now, and 25 nominations pending, giving the President and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) a clear window to get even more judges confirmed this year.
Now, almost 50.8 percent of current federal judges have been appointed by Democratic presidents — 404 to 390 — according to the latest data from the Federal Judicial Center.
Just consider that, to get to parity between the political parties on federal courts has taken three years of a Republican president, just to get it even. And even then, Republicans still don’t have a majority of judges, but they will soon.
If the remaining 81 vacancies are filled, that number will fall to 46 percent, giving Republicans 54 percent of federal judges.
Maybe that’s why Democrats wanted to slow down the Senate in 2020 with an endless impeachment trial. If Senate Democrats had had their way, the impeachment trial would be still be ongoing, with an endless parade of new witnesses to be called to occupy the Senate floor’s time — time not spent confirming judges and other executive branch appointments.
Take former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s prospective testimony. First, his lawyer said that he wouldn’t testify unless ordered to by a federal court while House proceedings were still ongoing. So Democrats didn’t bother to subpoena him.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) then made a show of holding back Articles of Impeachment from the Senate until there was a pretrial agreement on witnesses. While that delayed the trial for about a week, it ultimately failed.
Then, Bolton’s lawyer turned around and suddenly said that Bolton would testify at the Senate trial if subpoenaed, a move designed to pressure Republican Senators to break with their party and hand the floor over to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), to call as many witnesses as possible, dragging on the trial for as long as possible to do maximum damage politically to President Trump.
Was Bolton’s testimony ploy coordinated? What we know is that the House never subpoenaed Bolton, and only after the House sent the Articles to the Senate did Bolton say he would testify if subpoenaed.
At that stage, Senate Republicans had a choice to make. Either allow the trial to continue indefinitely, harming Republicans politically because a few in their conference chose to extend the trial, or to just end it then and there. Mercifully for the nation, they opted for the latter.
Instead, the GOP Senate got its job done. No witnesses. And then a prompt acquittal for President Trump.
And now on to more judges.
It is worth noting that if a Republican House impeached a Democratic president with a Democratic Senate in power — say if this had been attempted in 2011 or 2012 — the charges would have been promptly, similarly defeated.
Meaning, the GOP Senate never had any good incentives politically to lengthen the trial, since there is zero likelihood they would be able to ever force a similar trial on a Democratic president in an election year when the roles were reversed. Particularly, when there are far more pressing matters from the Senate Majority Leader’s perspective, regardless of political party
McConnell did not want to waste months in 2020 on a Senate trial that would eventually acquit Trump anyway. As soon as he had the votes to end the trial, he did, and a clear majority of federal judges being appointed by Republican presidents before the end of the year will be his legacy.
Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government.
Video: Trump vindicated on impeachment and economy as campaign begins
To view online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3R1EWCtk-s
Video: Russiagate and Ukraine witch hunts have damaged the ability of future presidents to prevent a war
To view online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzjS4Ov3HF0
Economic boom continues with 225K new jobs in Jan. 2020
Feb. 7, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement on the latest jobs numbers:
“Job creation in January continued to roar along, accelerating to 225,000 jobs created, a dramatic increase over the average monthly job creation in 2019. The expansion of construction, particularly new home construction, jobs is a great sign moving forward as the housing sector can drive economic growth all on its own.
“When coupled with the near record low number of new unemployment insurance claims reported this week and the 3.1 percent annual increase in wages which disproportionately benefits those in the bottom economic tier, it is clear that President Trump’s tax and regulation cuts, along with his America First trade policy are winning for all Americans.
“And the path forward is even more exciting as the positive impacts on the manufacturing and agricultural sectors from the recent signing of the USMCA into law, the first phase China deal and a phase one deal with the Japanese promise to bring more jobs and prosperity to America. The President has engaged in a comprehensive economic growth plan and the great news is that parts of it are just beginning to kick in.”
To view online: https://getliberty.org/2020/02/economic-boom-continues-with-225k-new-jobs-in-jan-2020/
ALG Editor’s Note: In the following featured column from Breitbart.com’s Joel Pollak, former President Barack Obama helped foster the economic conditions that led to the closure of a GM factory in Ohio that Obama’ production company won an Academy Award for highlighting in a documentary, “American Factory”:
Obama’s Oscar-winning ‘American Factory’ omits his own role in Ohio factory’s closing
By Joel B. Pollak
Former President Barack Obama played a direct role in the hardships of the workers featured in American Factory, the Oscar-winning documentary his new production company produced.
The former president and First Lady Michelle Obama are celebrating the Oscar win for their new production company, Higher Ground, which saw American Factory win Best Documentary Feature on Sunday evening.
The film follows the travails of a shuttered General Motors factory in Ohio that is re-opened by Chinese investors, who save American jobs but encounter cultural and economic clashes with American workers.
But as Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), the former mayor of nearby Dayton, Ohio, wrote last year, the movie leaves out President Obama’s own role in making life worse for the GM workers who lost their jobs.
Obama’s auto bailout, he recalled, helped force the plant’s closure and made it harder for the workers to find new jobs because his administration was dealing political favors to its favored union allies — and they were in the “wrong” union.
Turner wrote in the Wall Street Journal last September, after the film’s release:
“It’s a fascinating and at times moving film. What’s interesting about it, though, is that it never once alludes to the part Mr. Obama played in diminishing the ability of Moraine’s laid off workers to transfer to other GM plants. The president’s role wasn’t indirect and isn’t a matter of dispute: His administration’s bailout deal for GM included a backroom exclusive agreement with the United Auto Workers…
“A quick refresher. The Obama administration’s auto bailout highly favored the UAW and its members. The GM plant in Moraine was unionized by the IUE-CWA. So—despite being one of the top GM facilities for quality, efficiency and production in the country—it was shuttered, and its employees were put at the back of the line when requesting transfers to other GM plants. Any non-UAW employees looking to transfer were forced to start as new hires, wiping clean any wages, tenure, and benefits built up during careers at other GM plants.
“’American Factory’ documents the UAW’s efforts to unionize the reopened auto glass factory without any mention of the same union’s direct role in the GM plant’s closure. The Dayton community was left out in the cold—thousands of jobs lost, families devastated, longtime GM workers out on the street looking for work.”
The hypocrisy of this Obama-backed film is astounding. Mr. Obama fails to acknowledge his direct role in creating the hardships the Moraine workers weathered. He had nothing whatsoever to do with the plant’s reopening—that was all the work of state and local officials and community leaders.
As Rep. Turner recalled, his retired father — who had once worked at the plant — lost his health insurance in Obama’s auto bailout.
It was only because of bipartisan efforts, assisted by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), that the plant was re-opened with Chinese help, Rep. Turner wrote.
Turner was incredulous at the film’s silence about the Obama administration’s policies. “How does a nearly two-hour film telling the story of these workers fail even to mention the direct role the co-owner of the film’s production company played in creating their hardships? Did the filmmakers think no one would remember?”
Evidently, they did — at least no one in Hollywood. And they were right.