Dems attack Trump for nominating judges

The idea of giving Hillary Clinton the authority to make federal judge nominations won votes for President Trump in 2016, according to polls.

Now, with the 2020 election looming, Democrats have issued a 50-page report complaining Trump and the Republican Senate had put too many judges on the federal bench, Fox News reports.

The 190 federal Article II court judges installed in Trump's first term is more than any other president except Jimmy Carter.

And 51 of those judges have been named to the U.S. Courts of Appeals, one more than Carter and 16 more than the next-most successful president, George H.W. Bush.

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The president also has successfully nominated two members of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The issue is particularly significant in light of the court's 5-4 decision creating a right to same-sex marriage. The chief justice contended in a dissent that the ruling was not based on the Constitution.

The Democrats charge the judges nominated by the president and approved by the Senate are "politicians in robes."

Fox News reported the Democrats' document criticizes Chief Justice John Roberts' Supreme Court and the conservative/libertarian lawyers' group the Federalist Society.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the Democrats say, is "betraying the vision of our founders."

"Instead of passing legislation to help the American people, Mitch McConnell has chosen to bury those bills in his legislative graveyard," the report charged. "This report looks behind the curtain of the GOP’s long campaign of judicial capture, into the fundamental threat it poses to the rule of law and American democracy."

The Democrats' complaints were echoed by the special interest organization Demand Justice, which is tied to members of the Obama administration.

Fox News said the effort by Senate Democrats "suggests they might be looking to use the federal courts as a political rallying cry for their base the same way Republicans did so effectively in 2016 to unite the party behind President Trump and in 2018 to hold on to the Senate majority as Democrats handily took the House."

But Mike Davis, the former chief nominations counsel for Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, believes Republicans will prevail again this fall.

"In 2016, President @realDonaldTrump won an upset victory over @HillaryClinton, in big part over a judicial fight," he wrote on Twitter. "In 2018, @SenateDems lost 4 incumbents (even when the Ds won the House), in big part over a judicial fight. Do Democrats really want another judicial fight in 2020?"

Democrats also are upset that only a simple majority vote in the Senate is needed to approve a judge. Former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry killed the filibuster for lower-court nominees despite warnings the move would be used later against Democrats.

Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court in a highly contentious 50-48 vote.

Also, senators no longer are following a traditional "blue slip" process that essentially allows home-state senators to veto or at least hold up consideration of a judge.

Carrie Severino of the Judicial Crisis Network said Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., "have been absolutely right to proceed with hearings for highly qualified nominees where the White House attempted to consult with home-state senators who have been nothing but obstructionist."