Breyer to Retire at the End of Term
On Wednesday, the news broke that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will retire at the end of this year's term. The National Review reported:
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer plans to retire at the end of the Court’s current term after serving for 27 years, providing President Biden his first opportunity to appoint a justice to the High Court.
Read moreMore Problems with Biden's Judicial Nominees
The problems continue with President Joe Biden's judicial nominees. Of particular concern is Nancy Abudu, who Biden recently nominated to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Concerns with her nomination should come as no surprise considering Abudu currently works as the Southern Poverty Law Center's Strategic Litigation Director. Some of Abudu's most outlandish remarks concern her opinions on election integrity measures.
Read moreSenate Confirms Sung to 9th Circuit as Biden makes More Judicial Nominations
By a 49 to 50 vote, the U.S. Senate confirmed Jennifer Sung to the 9th Circuit on Wednesday. Her nomination drew criticism from Republicans for a letter she signed on to calling U.S. Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh an "intellectually and morally bankrupt ideologue" during his confirmation process.
Read moreHearing Exposes Extreme Partisanship of Judicial Nominee
On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a confirmation hearing for a number of judicial nominees. Among them was Dale Ho, nominated to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. Throughout the hearing, Republican Senators expressed concern over Ho's prior partisan rhetoric, especially on social media.
Read moreIt's Time for Judiciary Democrats to Condemn with Their Votes
The September 13th protest by liberals in front of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home was too much even for Senate Democrats.
Senate Judiciary Committee members from both parties denounced a protest targeting the Maryland home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, saying the families and homes of government officials are not fair game. . . .
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) similarly criticized protests targeting public figures’ homes.
“We all know that you have to have a tough mental hide to be in this business,” Durbin said. But “it is absolutely unacceptable from my point of view to involve and major public figure’s family or their home, or to involve yourself in criminal trespass in the name of political freedom of speech.”
“There are proper venues to express yourself and I don’t believe a person’s home or their family should be fair game in this business,” he added.
Read morePérez: Murderers and Rapists Are “Children of God” and Should Get to Vote
The more that comes to light about Myrna Pérez, the more it is obvious that any fair-minded person would oppose her nomination to the Second Circuit due to how progressive and highly partisan she is as a judicial nominee. Myrna Pérez is an extremist with views on felon re-enfranchisement that even Democrat caucus Senators like Angus King, who widely support felon re-enfranchisement, would never entertain.
Read moreProgressive Election Activist Nominated to 2nd Circuit Must be Stopped
On Friday, the RNLA announced its opposition to the nomination of Myrna Pérez to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley. Her nomination was part of President Joe Biden's fourth slate of judicial nominees. Pérez is currently the director of the Brennan Center's Voting Rights and Elections Program. The Brennan Center is a progressive organization that routinely opposes commonsense election laws.
Read moreNominations Update: Clarke Confirmed, Judiciary Considers Slate of Nominees
This week was a busy one for Biden Administration nominees. Kristen Clarke was confirmed by the Senate to lead the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. The Senate Judiciary Committee also held a hearing to consider six other nominees, including Tiffany P. Cunningham to be a United States Circuit Judge for the Federal Circuit and David H. Chipman to be Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
Read moreHearing Shows Liberal Dark Money Influence on Democrat Judicial Nominees
Earlier today, the Senate Judiciary Committee hosted its first set of judicial confirmation hearings since Joe Biden took office. The first panel featured the nominations of Ketanji Brown Jackson to be United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit and Candace Jackson-Akiwumi to be United States Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit.
The most high-profile nomination considered during the first panel was that of Ketanji Brown Jackson. As RNLA previously noted, Judge Jackson has appeared on liberal dark money group Demand Justice's Supreme Court short list. The group is also supporting her nomination to the D.C. Circuit.
Read moreQualifications and ABA Approval Take Back Seat When it Comes to Biden's Judicial Nominees
Joe Biden's first slate of judicial nominees have three things in common. First, they should be confirmable. As the Cato Institute's Ilya Shapiro points out:
Biden's first group of nominees was designed to go down easy; they're all headed for courts in D.C. or states with two Democratic senators, so there's no concern about blue slips or other political blips. That's largely going to continue, since most judicial vacancies are in blue states where senators didn't want to play ball with the Trump White House or then-majority leader Mitch McConnell. Or where judges waited until Biden was elected to announce their retirements.
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