Elections have consequences, folks. There was controversy. There were allegations of voter fraud, but in the end — Joe Biden is president, and Trump is not. Now, it’s time to look to the defenses. The fight over judges will once again become a battleground, and Joe Biden will surely look to seize on a chance to fill those vacancies with his own appointees. Liberals who have watched helplessly as Donald Trump has altered the federal judiciary over the past four years will be looking to shore up ground here as well. There will be nearly 100 vacancies set to open up this year, and there’s one departure that’s rather notable (via The Hill):
A growing number of federal judges have announced their departures in the weeks since President Biden was sworn in, giving the new administration an early opportunity to start making inroads into former President Trump’s success at filling the judiciary with conservative judges.
There are currently 57 vacancies in the federal district and appellate courts and another 20 seats that will become vacant in the coming months. At least 25 of those vacancies were announced after Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
The group of departures includes Emmet Sullivan, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by former President Clinton in 1994. Sullivan presided over several high-profile cases during the Trump era, including the prosecution of Michael Flynn on charges that the former White House national security adviser had lied to the FBI about his conversations with a Russian diplomat during Trump’s transition period.
Yeah, Judge Sullivan did his part in dragging the Michael Flynn case to its bitter end. Despite new evidence that appears to show gross prosecutorial misconduct on behalf of the Department of Justice in the Flynn case, Sullivan dug in and waited it out, seemingly in the hopes of a Democratic-run DOJ to takeover and withdraw the motion to drop all criminal charges in this matter. Trump pardoned Flynn instead when it became clear this legal purgatory wouldn’t end.
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It’s a source of concern, though. Biden’s been mum on who he would pick as judicial nominees. There are no lists, but you can assume that these folks will be hardcore liberals and pro-abortion to the hilt. The Senate is split 50-50. He can’t get too far into lefty looneyville on this, but we should concede that some of these bleeding hearts will get lifetime appointments. Until we get the majority back, we’ll have to pick and choose which ones are truly the worst. Expect some pretty terrible choices to come down the turnpike.
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