John,
The public pressure is working. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been focused on confirming many of the remaining district court nominees in these final weeks—successfully confirming eight recently. But with 15 judges left to confirm, the task is far from complete. With Republicans in Congress largely opposing every nominee and slowing down the process, we need to keep up the pressure to get the job done.
We're reaching out to you again because these lifetime appointments are that critical. If Senate Democrats fail to confirm these nominees, Donald Trump and Senate Republicans will inherit these vacancies and use them to once again pack the courts with right-wing loyalists. And we've already seen the damage that can be done. By the end of his second term, Trump could appoint as many as half of all active judges, including a majority of the justices on the Supreme Court.1 The resistance starts now—and together we can fight to fill these vacancies with fair and just judges, not corrupt cronies handpicked by Trump.
Senate Democrats have been pulling late nights and long days in order to confirm these judges—but we need them to keep up the momentum. Let them know that their constituents are watching and expecting them to do whatever it takes to vote on Biden's 15 judicial nominees before time runs out.
Thanks for all you do.
–Maggie Jo Buchanan, Managing Director at Demand Justice
P.S. See our email below from last week on why these judicial confirmations are so important and why we need them to be the focus during the lame duck.
Source:
1. "Trump will name more conservative judges. He may even pick a majority of the Supreme Court,” NBC News, November 8, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/200621?t=5&akid=417612%2E40999114%2Eby8j26
Dear MoveOn member,
We are preparing now for a Donald Trump presidency. We know that the worst and most unconstitutional policies he will try to pass will be battled out through the courts—and so does Trump. That's why in his last term, Trump stacked the courts—appointing more than 200 judges to the federal bench.2 And he's poised to do the same thing come January 2025.
Let's be clear: Trump's nominees have, and will continue to, put in place policies that are contrary to the values of the American people.
With only a few weeks left before the new Congress and incoming Trump administration, it is now more urgent than ever that Democratic senators do whatever it takes to confirm judges in the lame duck.
In just four years, President Biden and the Senate have confirmed 215 judicial nominees—including historic Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. The majority of these appointments were women and people of color, increasing the racial diversity of the federal courts.3 But with Trump poised to take over the White House in just a couple of months, we have to work quickly to fill all vacant judicial positions before Trump and Senate Republicans start stacking the courts with extremists again.
Over the next four years, roughly 250 circuit and district court judges are, or will become, eligible to take a form of semi-retirement which allows them to be replaced. On top of the current and known future vacancies in states with two Republican senators, there is a very real chance that Trump will get to appoint another 200+ lower-court judges. Not to mention the fact that, depending on retirements at the highest level of our judicial system, he will also likely get to appoint at least two more Supreme Court justices.4 A next Trump presidency is going to dramatically shape the courts for decades to come.
The negative impact Trump's appointments will have on our rights and freedoms cannot be understated. We've already seen the damage the current Trump justices and judges have unleashed on our civil rights. All three Trump Supreme Court justices were part of the majority in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade.5 And Trump's circuit court judges have repeatedly authored or joined anti-worker opinions, including cases which made it harder to file discrimination claims.6
This is our last chance to act to confirm judges who will help protect our fundamental rights and serve as the last line of defense to uphold our nation's laws and the Constitution.
Thanks for all you do.
–Maggie Jo Buchanan, Managing Director at Demand Justice
Sources:
2. "How Trump compares with other recent presidents in appointing federal judges," Pew Research Center, January 13, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/194378?t=12&akid=417612%2E40999114%2Eby8j26
3. "US Senate Democrats rush to confirm judges before Trump takes office," Reuters, November 12, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/198883?t=14&akid=417612%2E40999114%2Eby8j26
4. "Trump's justices decisive in long campaign to overturn Roe v. Wade," Reuters, June 24, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/198884?t=16&akid=417612%2E40999114%2Eby8j26
5. "Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears: The Continuing Harm Caused by Confirmed Trump Federal Judges," People For, April 5, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/198882?t=18&akid=417612%2E40999114%2Eby8j26
6. Ibid.
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