June 25, 2020 AM
Presidents come and go, but some of their appointments stay in place for generations. Let us take a look at the Trump federal bench appointments as a case scenario.
Senate Republicans have filled the nation’s highest courts with dozens of white men — and zero Black judges.
First the precursor to Trumps appointees. Obama made every attempt to appoint a supreme court judge, but McConnell and the GOP blocked Obama’s every effort in making those nominees final.
“Blackless” Judge Appointees
Now to-date, United States Senate has approved the 200th federal judge to be named by President Donald Trump, confirmed the Republican-controlled chamber.
Also, Trump has nominated more judges that have then been confirmed by the Senate than any other president in four decades.
Critics have accused the president and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of prioritizing packing the courts with conservative judges while ignoring other pressing matters, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, gun violence, voting rights and other issues.
“Over the last three years, instead of focusing on legislation to help the American people, Leader McConnell and President Trump have dedicated almost every ounce of their energy and focus to packing the courts with right-wing ideologues who they know will do their bidding from the bench,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said.
The most recent nomination – of Mississippi judge Cory Wilson to a federal appeals court in New Orleans – overcame Democratic charges that Wilson has a record of working to undermine the voting rights of African Americans and other minorities.
Senator Kamala Harris, one of three Black senators in the chamber, called Wilson’s record “extremely problematic at this moment in time” as the nation faces a reckoning over racism in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd and other African Americans. 