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

Headshots of various Trump-appointed federal judges over a blue background that states "Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears"

The federal appellate judges and Supreme Court justices Donald Trump is appointing are damaging our rights and liberties.

Press Release

07/31/2020

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.

As work continues on promoting a strong, fair, and effective response to the coronavirus crisis, as well as on the ongoing problems of police misconduct and racial discrimination, PFAW has continued our research and reporting on the troubling votes and decisions by Trump appellate judges and justices. Linked below are posts concerning 33 cases from PFAW’s “Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears” blog series for June 2020.

Three trends emerge from the June cases: eight Supreme Court and other cases where Trump nominees cast disturbing votes on immigration-related issues; six cases in which Trump appellate judges voted to excuse or immunize police or prosecutors charged with misconduct; and four cases where Trump Supreme Court or appellate judges voted against women’s rights, including abortion rights. Specifically:

Led by the vociferous dissent in the Supreme Court 5-4 ruling invalidating the Trump administration effort to repeal DACA, Trump Supreme Court and appellate judges consistently tried to uphold restrictive federal policies and practices concerning immigration. In the appellate courts, this included 3 majority decisions and dissents from rulings against Trump policies on expanding expedited removal, adopting a new so-called public charge rule, and diverting funds to build Trump’s border wall.
Perhaps the most notable June decision approving prosecutorial misconduct was the opinion by Neomi Rao refusing to allow even a hearing on the Justice Department decision to drop charges against Michael Flynn, which has recently been vacated by the full DC Circuit as it reconsiders the case. Trump judges voted to grant qualified immunity from liability to police or prosecutors in several cases, and in one case, a Trump judge argued in dissent that requiring a man to sit in visible shackles during his criminal trial was not reversible error.
Trump appointees came within one vote of upholding restrictive abortion laws in Louisiana (Supreme Court) and Kentucky (6^th Circuit). Trump appellate judges cast deciding votes that harmed the rights of women in several cases concerning sexual harassment.

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, which you can search by judge or by issue, now including police misconduct.