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President Trump has already put an indelible stamp on the federal court system. During his first term, Trump installed three Supreme Court justices and dozens of judges on lower courts. But experts tell NPR's Carrie Johnson that the window for acting this year is starting to close.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: In the brass-knuckled world of judicial nominations, Republicans and Democrats are coming together on one point of agreement. If President Trump wants to cement his judicial legacy, the time to do it is between now and November.
MIKE FRAGOSO: This is probably the best Senate in a hundred years for confirming conservative judicial nominees.
JOHNSON: Mike Fragoso helped vet and advance judges during the first Trump administration. He says the people in the White House now know midterm elections are looming in November. Polls show the Republican Senate could narrow or flip altogether. Fragoso's been posting online about Appeals Court judges who could take senior status and free up their seats. They range in age from 65 to 85.
FRAGOSO: I would not have especially high confidence that people can be confirmed after November. So if any judges were thinking about going senior, the time to do it is probably in the next couple of months.
JOHNSON: Josh Orton is fighting against Trump's judicial picks. This week, his advocacy group, Demand Justice, launched a new opposition campaign, just in case a Supreme Court justice decides to retire and Trump gets the chance to fill another vacancy there. The Senate math is now in Trump's favor, he says.
JOSH ORTON: This 53-47 margin is going to be the best margin he has to confirm people who may not be the most appealing to the Republican legal establishment.
JOHNSON: For more than a generation, the GOP establishment has turned to a specific type of nominee, often a member of the conservative Federalist Society. They tend to be lawyers with pro-business views and skepticism of government. But there's something different about President Trump's judges this time. Trump has already nominated his former personal lawyers to seats on the 3rd and 8th Circuit Appeals Courts. Josh Orton says he expects more of that if the president gets another opening at the Supreme Court.
ORTON: It is possible, if not likely, that he will nominate someone that has no other ideological credential besides loyalty to him.
JOHNSON: Conservatives who work closely with the Trump White House focus less on loyalty and more on other characteristics. Again, Mike Fragoso.
FRAGOSO: By all accounts, for the last decade, the president has said he wants judges who will be fearless and bold.
JOHNSON: Fragoso remembers asking potential nominees for a time when they took a stand on a case or the law, knowing they may have to pay a price for it. Rob Luther is a professor at Scalia Law School at George Mason University. He talks about nominees with fortitude.
ROB LUTHER: What I mean by that is, you know, people who are not afraid to take on the hard cases, not afraid to stand behind hard positions and make those arguments in court, and not afraid to deal with whatever public or political ramifications come from taking on the hard issues.
JOHNSON: Recently, a Trump-appointed judge ignited an uproar in a case involving a spa that refused access to a transgender woman. The full 9th Circuit Appeals Court decided not to review claims by the spa, which argued an antidiscrimination law violated its constitutional rights. Judge Lawrence VanDyke, who was named to the bench in 2019 during Trump's first term, wrote a dissent that drew national attention. His first line referenced a term for male anatomy. He went on to write, it's far more jarring for women at the spa to see the, quote, "real thing" than for people to read about it in a court ruling. Rachel Rossi is president of Alliance for Justice, a group that advocates for progressive judges.
RACHEL ROSSI: Twenty-seven of the 51 judges on the 9th Circuit actually wrote that his - that Judge VanDyke's crude and vitriolic language made them sound like juveniles, not judges, and it undermines public trust in the courts. And ultimately, that's what this is about, right?
JOHNSON: A White House spokeswoman says the president's selecting highly qualified nominees with great respect for our Constitution. She says they'll serve on the bench for decades to come. Carrie Johnson, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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