How the Trump Administration is Remaking the Courts

Donald F. McGahn, the White House counsel, stood in the gilded ballroom of Washington’s Mayflower Hotel last November to address the annual meeting of the Federalist Society. He seemed humbled, even a bit awed to be delivering the Barbara K. Olson Memorial lecture, named after the conservative lawyer who died in the Sept. 11 attacks. Noting some of the legal giants who gave the Olson lecture in years past, McGahn reflected, “You hear names like Scalia, Roberts and Gorsuch and then me; one of those names really is different than the rest.” Unlike previous speakers — to say nothing of many of those to whom he was now speaking — McGahn, himself a member of the Federalist Society, hadn’t attended an Ivy League law school; he went to Widener University, a “second tier” law school in Pennsylvania. He had never held a tenured professorship or boasted an appellate practice, much less a judgeship, that required him to think deeply about weighty constitutional issues; he specialized in the comparably mundane and technical field of campaign finance and election law. “But here we are,” McGahn said to the audience, almost apologetically. In 2015, Donald Trump hired McGahn to be the lawyer for his long-shot presidential campaign. Then, after Trump shockingly won the election, he tapped McGahn, who had proved his talent and loyalty during the campaign, to be White House counsel. Trump, in other words, had made McGahn’s wildest dreams come true. Now, McGahn told the Federalist Society, Trump was going to make their wildest dreams come true, too.

The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, as it is officially known, has played a crucial role in putting conservative jurists on the bench.

I agree.

The 9th should be California, Nevada and Arizona (currently, 29 justices, 7 vacancies). Should be reduced to 18 justices

The 14th (new) should be Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and pacific islands. Should also be 18 justices.

Would recommend making the headquarters in Anchorage AL till the new court house is built in Portland. Then assign 10 or so justices (oldest) from the 9th to the 14th. They will not want to spend 2 years in AL so the older ones will retire. That should open up about 8 slots, leaving about 16 justices from a requirement of 32. Lots of opportunity for President Trump to fill those slots.

Just thinking out loud and speculating.

I hated giving it a click, but I wanted to read the whole article. This excerpt illustrates two things:

"...As White House counsel, McGahn has exercised an unprecedented degree of control over judicial appointments. In previous White Houses, both Republican and Democrat, judicial nominations were typically crowdsourced among officials from different parts of the administration. Under George W. Bush, for instance, there was a judicial-selection committee made up of people from the offices of the White House counsel, political affairs and legislative affairs, as well as officials from the Justice Department. This tended to produce a leveling effect. “You killed nominees by committee,” says one Republican involved in judicial confirmations. Under Trump, the job belongs exclusively to the White House Counsel’s Office, with McGahn and his deputy, Robert Luther, and about 10 associate counsels identifying and then scrutinizing candidates. This process is unique in White House history. Instead of engaging in the typical legislative horse-trading for nominating judges — promising a senator, for instance, that the president will support the nomination of the lawyer who served as the senator’s campaign-finance chairman in exchange for a yes vote on the administration’s agriculture bill — the Trump White House has given the counsel’s office near-absolute authority. In a White House known for chaos and dysfunction, the counsel’s office, under McGahn, is generally viewed as an island of competence. “The White House is like a Dante’s ‘Inferno’-strange comedy,” says one leading conservative lawyer who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, “but the people in the counsel’s office are like the A-Team.”..."

First, Trump has empowered McGahn to do his bidding. TYPICAL EFFECTIVE CHIEF EXECUTIVE ACTION. It is why things get done in this White House. They don't have to have a dozen eggheads trampling over everything. Trump found a subordinate he trusts, and lets him do his job. What a unique concept.

Second, they just cannot help themselves with their "In a White House known for chaos and dysfunction" comment. IMO, most real Americans don't give a crap about accord or discord in the White House as long as things get done. In their insulated liberal bubble, it is the chaos and dysfunction that is important, not that actual results.

As for his judicial appointees...make the Left choke on them. Force these judicial nominees down their figurative Leftist political throats until they cannot breathe. They were the ones who made the change while they were in power, against the pleas of many on the conservative side. But they went ahead anyway.

The Left burned and salted the political soil, let them try to grow a thing to eat in that soil they ruined, let's force their faces down into that soil. I might feel differently had the Left not changed the rules as they did, in the way they did. Now, let them eat their actions until they choke.

No Mercy.

And the good thing is, the country will be far better off with this political strong-arming.

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