Posted on 07/18/2018 12:10:11 PM PDT by Jaysin
Oldham is the third Texas nominee to be confirmed to the powerful, conservative-leaning appeals court since President Donald Trump took office.
Andrew Oldham was confirmed to the federal bench Wednesday by a 50–49 vote, making him the the fourth alumnus of the Texas Attorney General’s Office to join the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals since President Donald Trump took office. That tally made his confirmation the narrowest of any Texas judicial nominee under Trump.
Oldham currently serves as Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s top legal adviser.
Born in 1978, Oldham is decades younger than the average judge on the New Orleans-based court, and years younger than most were when they were appointed. He’ll join two Texas judges — former Texas Solicitor General James Ho and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett — who were confirmed to the powerful, conservative federal appeals court in December.
But Oldham seemed to face more resistance from Senate Democrats than either Willett or Ho, largely because he refused at his April 25 confirmation hearing — as another nominee had weeks earlier — to say whether Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark desegregation case, was correctly decided. Oldham did say the ruling "corrected an egregious legal error,” but he declined to discuss the ruling itself, claiming that doing so would violate judicial ethics codes for nominees.
Oldham’s response sparked outrage among Democrats, who have pointed out that past judicial nominees, including several U.S. Supreme Court justices, have cited no such restriction. Republicans, including U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, said Oldham made it clear that he supported school desegregation and dismissed the quibble over his response as “a phony, made-up issue.” Debate over Oldham and other nominees who refused to endorse the Brown ruling occupied several hours of discussion in the Senate Judiciary Committee May 17, delaying several nominees’ expected committee approval by a week.
That controversy seems to have been reflected in senators' votes: Oldham’s confirmation was slightly narrower than those of Texas’ other circuit court hopefuls. Ho was confirmed 53-43 and Willett, more narrowly, by a 50-47 vote.
Abbott staffers have had good luck with federal judicial appointments since Trump took office, leading many experts and political observers to speculate that Abbott has been unusually involved in the nomination process. And even nominees outside Texas have ties to the state attorney general's office: Kyle Duncan, a former assistant solicitor general for Texas, was confirmed to a Louisiana seat on the 5th Circuit in April.
The 5th Circuit, which hears cases from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, has long been considered one of the country’s most politically conservative appeals courts. There is a long list of high-profile Texas cases pending before that court, including several voting rights cases, and a legal challenge to the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is expected to land there as well. Oldham would have to recuse himself from any litigation he directly worked on for the state of Texas.
“Over the years, Andy has displayed a keen understanding of the Constitution,” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said on the Senate floor shortly before the vote began. “I’m confident that Andy will not substitute his own policy preferences, his own opinions, for the rule of law.”
Oldham was the 23rd appeals court nominee confirmed under Trump, an impressive pace that has boosted Republicans and worried Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has called judicial confirmations his “top priority.”
“”””””Andrew Oldham was confirmed to the federal bench Wednesday by a 50–49 vote,”””””””””
50-49???? He must be a good pick if it was that tight.
One of Abbott’s crew?
Potentially a squishy centrist in the Bush mold.
Abbott has been a step up from Islamist Rick Perry (and sure beats the Democrats) but he is the roadblock preventing civil forfeiture reform in Texas. For that reason I would much prefer judicial picks far, far removed from him.
Isn't that one of bathhouse barry's lines?
Ewwwwwwwww.....!
Can’t get better than 50-49. Every judge confirmed should be 50-49.
Abbott is not squishy Bush. He’s one of the best governors in the nation. I would think civil forfeiture would be on the agenda - he did get rid of municipal city limit expansion without voter approval.
Excellent. That’s 23 appeals court judges confirmed with 11 more nominations to go. Obama had 55 confirmed so in 2 years, Trump will be more than halfway to his total there. We’ve got to undo the damage Obama did to the federal courts.
Here’s the deal.
Brown is not a judicial decision in any meaningful sense.
What is is, is simply a sociological/statistical analysis of segregation when then says that the future must be different as a matter of law.
The best and most honest case you can make for Brown is that it was right decision but reasoned wrongly.
Of course a real judge would say it was the wrong decision precisely because it was reasoned wrongly.
I also don’t think it is even true, technically, that Brown overruled Plessy. But I’d have to dig back in to say that with certainty.
Regardless, Brown is a travesty of judicial reasoning.
Some arguably valid legislative reasoning in there, and perhaps some data that would cause a legislator to vote for that outcome. But that’s not judicial reasoning.
And I suppose I’ll never get confirmed by the senate. :)
He’s confirmed, move on.
Not Loog.
Although after the great job he did with the Stones, we could use him...
Brown v. Board of Education should have been rejected by the Supreme Court. It was not a Constitutional issue. It is the State Constitutions that establish the public school system(s). So, it could be ruled on at the state level. It was another case of the Supremes legislating from the bench.
If the U.S. wanted to pass a law concerning public education, it should have come from Congress. Using the Courts to impose social or morality issues beyond what is designated in the Constitution is always a mistake and prevents or delays society’s self-correction.
A reminder that “moderate” Dems like Manchin and Heitkamp are not allies and need to be defeated.
I would say do the research before you make such comments.
Oldham is a member of the Federalist Society and you can find many of his opinions/outlooks from there.
Beyond that, the lefties HATE him with a passion, which always makes me believe we are over the Protect the Constitution target.
No, Obama had 55 appellate court judges confirmed in eight years.
Where Trump's nominees lag behind is at the district court level.
I’ve looked at several articles on this and cannot find any mention of McCain voted. I would guess that it was a 49-49 tie and Pence had to break thew tie.
Here is another article. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/senate-confirms-trump-court-pick-with-record-of-attacking-voting-rights/ar-AAAgpqO
Did McCain show up or not? Resign dude! You’re dead weight (unless you actually voted)
“leading many experts and political observers to speculate that Abbott has been unusually involved in the nomination process”
“unusually involved” what does that mean?
Are they implying his name is really Abbotskovich? LOL!
Yeah, that’ what I said. 55 Appeals court/Circuit Court judges confirmed in 8 years. Trumps got 23 with 11 more nominees to go. I’m not as concerned with the district courts as I am with the appeals courts since the latter can just overturn the district courts and set precedent in cases when the Supreme Court denies cert.
Hey, Freepers— after seeing a vote like this, gotta say that McConnel must have some redeeming qualities.
Add the bailout of the Waco criminals with state taxpayer funds to the list of strikes against Abbott.
But I’ll still have to vote for him over Lupe The Lesbian. Like many of Perry’s elections, I’ll have to vote for the lesser evil.
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