Transforming the judiciary by appointing a historic number of judges is not an impeachable offense, so Democrats have to pretend like impeachment is really about something else, like "collusion," or a phone call or maybe even a tweet.
But make no doubt about it, the Left's real power comes from its stronghold over the federal judiciary, which President Trump has been busy reshaping. As of December 2, President Trump has had 164 judicial nominees confirmed to the federal bench, including two Supreme Court justices, 48 Circuit Court judges and 116 District Court judges. Already, approximately one out of every four active judges on the Courts of Appeals has been appointed by President Trump, and Trump is currently on track to have more judges confirmed in 2019 than in the previous two years combined. Even worse for Democrats, Trump is appointing judges whose average age is now under 50, a full decade younger than President Obama's nominees had been to the circuit court.
This is an unmitigated disaster for the Democrats who rely on activist judges to accomplish their agenda. If they can't rely on judges to overturn the will of the American voters, what are they supposed to do with their unpopular ideas? There is no solution, other than to remove Trump from office at whatever cost necessary. We saw the Left's unbridled efforts to stop Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court. And Justice Ginsburg's frequent trips to the hospital must be helping drugmakers sell a record number of anxiety medication.
Everything is on the line for Democrats. There is no historical precedent the Democrats won't destroy in order to stop Trump. Of Trump's 164 judicial appointments, 121 of them required cloture in order to confirm. While Obama was nominating crazy zealots to the federal bench, the Senate only had to invoke cloture three times in order to confirm Obama's appointments by the same time during Obama's presidency. Under George W. Bush, the number was also three. Under Clinton, it was one.
In a fiery speech last month, Attorney General William Barr railed against Democrats who are trampling over constitutional norms and undermining the rule of law. "The fact of the matter is that in waging a scorched-earth, no-holds-barred war of resistance against this administration, it is the Left that is engaged in the systematic shredding of norms and undermining the rule of law," Barr told the Federalist Society. "They are willing to use any means necessary to gain momentary advantage in achieving their end, regardless of the collateral consequences and the systemic implications. ... and yet we hear them irresponsibly tabling proposals to do away with the electoral college or to pack the courts. Who's shredding Constitutional norms?"
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The attorney general also pointed out that district courts have issued over 40 nationwide injunctions against the Trump administration. During President Obama's first two years, the district courts had only issued two nationwide injunctions, both of which were immediately vacated by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Last month, two of Trump's nominees cleared the Senate despite opposition from Senate Democrats.
But Democrats are losing control over the federal courts. Republicans have now flipped the Third Circuit to a Republican-appointed majority and will likely flip the Second and Eleventh Circuits by the end of the year.
So no matter how weak of a case the Democrats make against the president, no matter how bad the impeachment hearings continue to go for them, the Democrats will continue to pursue impeachment as long as their grip on the federal judiciary continues to slip away.
