Incoming Judicial Nominees
WASHINGTON D.C.- Future judicial nominees running for a seat are far more important than you might have thought; Trump has recently added potential winners.
It all started two weeks ago on Thursday, currently the Senate has approved 14 nominees. The Blue and Red side are clashing as they try to prevent each other from winning a seat in their favor. For example, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, declared that Democrats will not be able to use the “blue slip process” in order to block President Trump’s nominees from getting approved by Senate. The blue slip process is used by some chairmen of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Basically, in order for a hearing on the nominee to happen, the blue slip (approval) is needed from both home state senators. Grassley now does not approve of this process as well as other right side figures like Mitch McConnell which had already asked him to get rid of that process in the past.
As a result of this, the 9 Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have asked the GOP to reason with them. A letter was written on the 10th, saying, "Our respective caucuses have pointed fingers for some time about who is to blame for the erosion of bipartisanship on judicial nominations, culminating with the elimination of the sixty-vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees earlier this year.” At this point, Dems know what the future Judiciary nominees could do to affect decisions.
Clearly, Trump’s nominees are hard right conservatives therefore, the future of the Judiciary branch and its way of interpreting situations, could be in the hands of the Reps. The Federal courts ultimately affect many areas of policy, such as: gun control, religious rights, tensions between regulation and more.
Not to mention, drama revolves around these nominees. According to Newsweek, “The American Bar Association's Standing Committee of the Federal Judiciary, which has been evaluating judicial appointments since the 1950s, has assessed 50 of Trump's 58 nominees and found four ‘not qualified’.”
Brett Talley has been a controversial nominee. First off, he did not disclose the fact that he is married to someone in relation to the White House. He is married to the chief of staff-Ann Donaldson who works for Donald McGahn, the White House counsel. She being a lawyer for the White House is a concern for some. Second, Talley is known to have no experience in handling a trial. It is said that Talley was a deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice, has been a speechwriter, law clerk and writes horror novels. He has no whatsoever experience for a position this high, yet he is awaiting confirmation.
The Republicans and Democrats will do everything they can to outrun each other. Keep in mind that judges are for life.
