Washington, D.C.—People for the American Way (PFAW) today released a new report detailing the damage done by the record number of Supreme Court and federal appellate judges already installed by Trump and his GOP allies. “Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears: The Devastating Harm Already Done by Confirmed Trump Federal Judges” details specific decisions that harm the rights of working people, religious and other minorities, women, voters, immigrants, and many more.
“The right-wing’s long-hoped-for attack on federal civil rights and other protections is well under way thanks to Trump’s already-confirmed appellate judges,” PFAW Senior Fellow Elliot Mincberg said. “Supreme Court battles may have grabbed all the headlines, but the incredibly aggressive push to stack the entire federal judiciary with political operatives and ideologues will have extremely serious consequences for a generation.”
The report contains numerous examples that highlight the danger of the right-wing push to stack the nation’s courts with narrow-minded, elitist judges, including:
- Trump Justice Neil Gorsuch has been the deciding vote in more than a dozen decisions that have, among other damage, upheld the Trump Muslim ban; denied overtime pay to more than 100,000 workers; approved Ohio’s purge of more than a million voters; thrown out a California law that protected women from fraud by anti-abortion groups; and reversed a decades-old precedent that protected workers’ rights to organize.
- Trump 7th Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett voted to allow a corporation to racially segregate its workplaces.
- Trump 5th Circuit Judge James Ho took potshots at Roe v. Wade and cast the deciding vote to harm an abortion clinic in an abortion-related case.
To put these examples in context: Republicans have already confirmed 29 Trump circuit judges and plan to confirm more by year’s end. And, in cases where they did not have enough votes to form a majority, Justice Gorsuch and Trump appeals court judges made clear in dissents that with more support from additional Trump judges, they would do even further harm to Americans’ rights concerning voting, religious liberty, privacy, LGBTQ rights, money in politics, gun safety, and more.
“As we approach next month’s elections, it is critical that all Americans, not just right-wing voters courted by Trump and Mitch McConnell, keep this issue in mind at the polling place,” PFAW Executive Vice President Marge Baker said.
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People For the American Way is a progressive advocacy organization founded to fight right-wing extremism and defend constitutional values including free expression, religious liberty, equal justice under the law, and the right to meaningfully participate in our democracy. Learn more: https://www.pfaw.org.