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PFAW's "Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears" Highlights April Rulings

Two women hold signs saying "Save SCOTUS" and "Save workers' rights" outside the Supreme Court with the title Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears: The Continuing Harm Caused by Trump Federal Judges
Press Release
Contact:
Laurie Kinney
People For the American Way
Email:
[email protected]
Phone number:
202.467.2307

Washington, D.C.— People For the American Way's "Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears” blog series covers troubling votes and decisions by Trump appellate judges.

Even as we and so many others continue to work on promoting a strong, fair, and effective response to the coronavirus crisis, PFAW has also continued our ongoing research and reporting on the troubling votes and decisions by Trump appellate judges and justices, some of which relate directly to the crisis. Linked below are posts concerning 25 cases from PFAW’s “Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears” blog series for April, 2020. Three trends emerge: several Supreme Court rulings where Trump justices cast deciding votes on a COVID-19 election-related issue and an immigration issue; four cases in which Trump appellate judges tried to uphold state abortion bans using COVID-19 as an excuse; and five cases where Trump appellate judges sided with big corporations against workers, consumers and others concerning health care, housing, and other issues:

  • Trump justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch cast deciding votes in two troubling Supreme Court cases. They helped rule that tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters could not cast absentee ballots in the April primary, requiring them either to lose their right to vote or risk their health during the COVID-19 pandemic. And a 5-4 opinion by Kavanaugh made it much easier to deport legal permanent residents who have immigrated from other countries, even if they have lived in the U.S. for more than 30 years.
  • Trump appellate judges voted in favor of state efforts to ban abortions in four states, all using COVID-19 as an excuse. These judges were in the majority and cast the deciding votes to uphold these bans in two cases, and were in the minority and dissented in two others.
  • Trump appellate judges cast deciding votes in favor of large corporations that denied health care to retired workers and denied an affordable mortgage modification to a homeowner. In dissents, they tried to rule that employees could not sue a restaurant chain for failure to pay overtime, that stockholders could not sue a big investment firm for fraud, and that damages against a large bank for pay violations should be reduced by over $1.8 million.

All these cases and more underline the importance of speaking out and fighting against Trump’s judicial nominations and making this a critical issue in this year’s elections. These cases have all been entered in our Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears tool, that you can search by issue or by judge.