While President Donald Trump "angry tweets" at the NFL and discusses plans to release classified files regarding JFK’s assassination, a much bigger Republican scheme unfolds right under our noses. Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell have figured out how to appease dissatisfied Republicans and how to make President #45 leave a legacy more lasting than the shame we feel as a nation. They plan to fill hundreds of appellate and circuit courts with conservative judges.
Mitch McConnell was previously imperative in blocking President Obama’s constitutional right to appoint a Supreme Court Justice after the vacancy created by Antonin Scalia’s passing. Blocking President Obama allowed Trump’s administration to appoint Neil Gorsuch to the court, who has been criticized on many occasions for his supercilious attitude. In Perry v Merit Systems Protection Board, he wrote a dissenting opinion regarding the interpretation of federal laws that included some revolutionary information. Gorsuch wrote, “If a statute needs repair, there’s a constitutionally prescribed way to do it. It’s called legislation.” I imagine this was followed by the other justices scramming to find what this new concept entailed as their combined experience on the court only accumulates to 140 years, a paltry number compared to Gorsuch's impressive 7 months.
If this trend of appointing right winged, conservative ‘yes men’ continues, we could be looking at a collapsing judicial system. Especially for minority groups that are already institutionally victimized and disadvantaged by our current political system and climate.
The blatant flouting of a president’s constitutional liberties should anger our nation’s citizens far more than it did, but that is nothing compared to the human rights violations that could amass if action is not taken prior to the appointment of these Federal Court judges. Taking into consideration the Senate changes made by Democrats in 2013, Republicans will be able to appoint judges with simple majority votes. This process will be further expedited if Mitch McConnell succeeds in removing the “blue slip system,” a senator’s right to veto a judicial candidate.
It is now more crucial than ever to stop focusing on The Kardashians and switch our reality TV preferences to the shit show unfolding in Washington.
