Yesterday Senate Republicans successfully stopped
President Obama’s attempt at court packing by voting against cloture for the
first of three unnecessary judges to the DC Circuit. As has been laid out here
and other places
multiple times,
there is no need for more judges on the DC Circuit. So why is this effort taking place?
As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell put it (emphasis
ours):
“So if the court’s caseload
clearly doesn’t meet their own standards for more judges, why are Senate Democrats
pushing to fill more seats on a court that doesn’t need them?
“What’s behind this push to
fill seats on a court that is cancelling oral argument days for a lack of cases
and which, according to the judges who serve on it, won’t have enough work to
go around if we do?
“Well, we don’t have to guess. Our Democratic colleagues and the
Administration’s supporters have been fairly candid about it. They have admitted they want to control the
court so it will advance the President’s agenda.
“As one Administration ally put it, ‘the
president’s best hope for advancing his agenda is through executive action, and
that runs through the D. C. Circuit.’
“Let me repeat, the reason they want to put more judges on
the D.C. Circuit is not because it needs them, but because ‘the president’s
best hope for advancing his agenda is through executive action, and that runs
through the D.C. Circuit.’
As Republican Leader McConnell further detailed, this is
not some biased Republican or conservative effort. The DC Circuit is evenly divided and rule
against President Bush as well.
“Another Administration ally
complained that the court ‘has made decisions that have frustrated the
president’s agenda.’
“Really? The court is evenly-divided between Republican
and Democratic appointees.
“And according to data
compiled by the federal courts, the D.C. Circuit has ruled against the Obama
Administration in administrative matters less often than it ruled against the
Bush Administration.
“So it’s not that the court has been more
unfavorable to President Obama than it was to President Bush. Rather, the Administration and its allies
seem to be complaining that the court hasn’t been favorable enough to it.
“Evidently, they don’t want
any meaningful check on the President.
You see, there is one in the House of Representatives, but the
Administration can circumvent that with aggressive agency rulemaking. That is, if the D.C. Circuit allows it to do
so.
“Mr. President, a court
should not be a rubberstamp for any administration. And our Democratic colleagues told us again
and again during the Bush Administration that the Senate confirmation process
should not be a rubberstamp for any administration either.
On behalf of RNLA and more importantly the rule of law, thank
you leader McConnell and your fellow Republican Senators for stopping President
Obama’s efforts at court packing.
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