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With the holiday season truly over, reality is careening towards the second Trump presidency at an alarming rate. And everyone is busy trying to predict what horrors await us during Trump II, but it seems certain the effort to remake the judiciary with the most reactionary jurists possible will continue apace.
The upside, such as it is, is that there are fewer judicial vacancies awaiting Donald Trump at the start of his second term than were vacant at the start of his first reign, thanks to a wildly obstructionist GOP-controlled Senate that plagued the end of Barack Obama’s second term that left a bunch of seats open. But there are still a number of opportunities for the balance of power to swing dramatically to the right.
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As reported by Bloomberg Law, there are a number of district courts poised to feel the impact of Trump nominees, but the appellate court that hangs in the balance is the Third Circuit. Trump already appointed four judges to that bench in his first term, and the defeat of Biden nominee Adeel Mangi plus another vacancy that never got a nominee means a real shift in the court. If Trump is able to fill those seats, GOP-appointed jurists will out number Democratic-appointed ones, 8-6.
And Republicans are practically salivating at the prospect. As former Trump White House lawyer turned ASS Law professor Robert Luther III said, “As Pennsylvania continues to play a decisive role in our national elections, this circuit couldn’t be more important.” Fucking fantastic.
The Fifth Circuit might soon have competition for the MAGA crown.
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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].