President Donald J. Trump has secured lifetime appointments for dozens of federal judges who do not represent the diversity of the American public, according to an article by NPR.
The Republican-controlled Senate has confirmed President Trump’s nominations for a group of judges that consists mostly of White men.
“Of his 48 appellate nominations, none are African- American,” said Vanita Gupta of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “None are Latino. Only nine are women. Our nation’s great diversity should be reflected in its government institutions, especially the federal judiciary, which serves as the guardian of our rights and liberties.”
This push to confirm conservative judges is so important to the Republican Party that legislators were holding hearings for judicial nominees even when the Senate had been in recess, according to the Nov. 15 NPR.org article.
The federal judicial candidates nominated by President Trump were 77 percent men, 84 percent White, and 11 percent rated as “Not Qualified” by the American Bar Association, according to data collected by NPR.
The confirmed judges included 29 to appeals courts, 53 to district courts and two to the Supreme Court.
“ ‘He came into office with a mandate to nominate judges in the mold of Justice (Antonin) Scalia and Justice (Clarence) Thomas,’ said Carrie Severino, chief counsel at the Judicial Crisis Network, which advocates for conservative judges. ‘That was a key reason he won the presidency,’ ” NPR reported.
