The editorial board of The New York Times is calling on the Senate to confirm "as many judges as possible" before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in, warning that he will fill every position left open with "extreme judges."
"Many of his appointees went on to limit the ability to vote, upend fundamental reproductive rights, and reduce oversight and checks on the power of the executive branch," the editorial board wrote Tuesday about Trump's first-term choices for judgeships.
The board added that the federal courts will hear cases challenging "virtually all of the most extreme plans" Trump has announced, including using the military in his plan for mass deportation of immigrants, refusing to spend money appropriated by Congress, and "politicizing the Justice Department to go after his perceived enemies."
But, the board said that as what happened during Trump's first term, "many of those plans are likely to be struck down by fair-minded judges and appeals courts if they exceed the president’s powers."
The Senate last week said a deal has been reached to finish the work on seven of President Joe Biden's nine judicial nominees whose confirmation process was stalled previously, reports The Hill.
An aide for Senate Democratic leadership said that after the Thanksgiving recess, the chamber will finish confirming the nominees Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer brought to the floor.
The deal involved Republicans consenting to accelerate consideration of district court judicial nominees, while Democrats agreed that votes would not be held for four of Biden's appellate court nominees.
Trump has pushed for the Senate to halt the confirmations before his inauguration, accusing Democrats of "trying to stack the Courts with Radical Left Judges on their way out the door."
"Republican Senators need to Show Up and Hold the Line — No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!" he also wrote on Truth Social.
The New York Times editorial board wrote that Trump's supporters have made it clear that they expect him to pick judges "who agree with his expansive definition of executive power."
"A new slate of his appointees in the lower courts is likely to find new ways to build on the Supreme Court’s grant of immunity and allow [Trump’s] dictates to become a new American reality," the board wrote, also warning that Trump will push Congress to create more judgeships and potentially use recess appointments to bypass confirmation proceedings.
The board added that while Trump's moves to add more conservative justices to the Supreme Court have gotten the most attention, it is the lower federal courts, particularly, the U.S. Courts of Appeals, that are the "final word in a vast majority of cases."
"It matters greatly who these judges are and how they approach the law and the Constitution," the board wrote.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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