GOP sights lower-court vacancies
WASHINGTON — Republicans have put President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee on the bench, and they’re now in a position to fill dozens more federal judgeships — and reshape some of the nation’s highest courts.
Democrats have few ways to stop them.
The Republicans’ opportunity comes with the GOP in control of Congress and the White House, about 120 vacancies in federal district and appeals courts to be filled and after years of partisan fights over judicial nominations.
Frustrated by Republican obstruction in 2013, thenmajority Democrats changed Senate rules so judicial nominations for those trial and appeals courts are filibusterproof, meaning it takes only 51 votes, a simple majority in the 100-member Senate, for confirmation.
Today, Senate Republicans hold 52 seats.
The Democratic rules change did not apply to Supreme Court nominations. But Senate Republicans are now in the majority, and they changed the rules in similar fashion this month to confirm federal Judge Neil Gorsuch to the high court over Democratic opposition. As a result, the GOP can
You might not be surprised to learn that a majority of Americans think that President Donald Trump is out of touch with the concerns of most people in the United States today.
Sure, he won the election, but a plurality of voters opposed him, and a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows he hasn’t expanded his base of support significantly since then. You certainly wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there’s a broad partisan split on the question, as there is on nearly everything in politics these days.
Only 1 in 10 of those who voted for Trump in November think he’s out of touch — but 90 percent of Hillary Clinton voters do. Partisan views are slightly more moderate, with 20 percent of Republicans and 87 percent of Democrats holding that position.
When it comes to the Republican Party, the numbers are a bit worse. Sixty-two percent of Americans, and 30 percent of Republicans themselves, think the GOP is out of touch with the concerns of most people in the United States.
But none of this means that Democrats are seen as echoing the concerns of the common man. In fact, the Democratic Party is viewed as more out of touch than either Trump or the party’s political opponents. Twothirds of Americans think the Democrats are out of touch — including nearly half of Democrats themselves.
It’s worth highlighting that last point. While the political opposition generally views Trump or either party as about equally out of touch — with about 80 to 90 percent saying so — the Democratic Party is viewed as far more out of touch by Democrats than Trump or the GOP are by Republicans.
Last week, it was noted that Trump’s party is seen as more divided than the opposition, according to data from the Pew Research Center. Sixty-eight percent of Americans think the Republican Party is more divided than united, including 57 percent of Republicans. Most Democrats, by contrast, say their party is united.
almost guarantee confirma- tion of future Supreme Court justices, as well, if there are more openings with Trump in office and Republicans are in the majority.
“The Trump administration does have an opportunity to really put its mark on the future of the federal judiciary,” says Leonard Leo, the executive vice president of the conservative Federalist Society and an adviser to Trump on the Gorsuch nomination.
Reflecting a conservative judicial philosophy, Leo says the unusual number of vacancies that Trump is inheriting could reorient the courts of appeals, in particular, “in a way that better reflects the traditional judicial role, which is interpreting the law according to its text and placing a premium on the Constitution’s limits on government power.”
That philosophy was a priority for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, whom Gorsuch replaced, and Trump has said he wants the federal judiciary to reflect those values.
There are currently 20 vacancies in the federal appeals courts, which are one step below the Supreme Court, and roughly 100 more
in district courts, where cases are originally tried. Former President Barack Obama had around half that number of vacancies when he took office in 2009. Of the current vacancies, 49 are considered judicial emergencies, a designation based on how many court filings are in the district and how long the seat has been open.
As the White House has focused on the Gorsuch nomination, Trump has so far only nominated one lowercourt judge, Amul R. Thapar, a friend of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, for the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Republican senators say they hope to see more nominations soon from the White House.
“We’ve heard from them and we’re talking to them,” says Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the No. 2 Republican leader.
The number of vacancies is a monumental opportunity for conservatives looking to exert more influence on a judiciary that they see as too liberal and activist. But it also could work to Republicans’ disadvantage. Democrats can’t stop the process, but they can delay it, and they still can call for procedural votes that will delay other Senate business when Republicans are trying to confirm each individual judge.
The White House will offer “specific governing principles” for its tax plan this week along with indications of what new rates would be, but a complete proposal probably won’t be ready until June, President Donald Trump’s budget director said.
Trump said in a Twitter post Saturday that tax reform and reduction would be announced this week.
“What you’re going to see on Wednesday is for the first time is, here’s what our principles are, here are some of the ideas that we like, some of the ideas we don’t like, and we can talk about that more if you want to,” Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Here are some of the rates we’re talking about.”
Asked about his previous comments that the full plan with bill language probably won’t be released until June, Mulvaney said “that’s still probably fair.” The administration has started working with House and Senate committees “as we try and build some momentum for this tax plan,” he said.
Mulvaney said the administration hasn’t decided whether its plan will be revenue-neutral, which would be needed to meet the criteria set by lawmakers to make tax changes permanent, or will add to the national debt.
“You can either have a small tax cut that’s permanent or a large tax cut that is short-term,” Mulvaney said. “I don’t think we decided that. But you’ll know more on Wednesday.”
Bloomberg News reported Friday that Trump’s plan probably won’t include a border-adjusted tax, suggesting that the president’s proposal won’t be revenue-neutral.
That’s because the border tax that House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has proposed would generate more than $1 trillion in revenue over a decade, helping to offset the cost of individual and corporate rate cuts.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other senior officials have signaled that the administration is more concerned about growth and job creation than revenue neutrality.