Lots of F's for These D's:
Report Card Shows Majority of Senate Democrats Aiding Trump's Right-Wing Court
Takeover
"A disappointing number
of Democrats have buried their heads in the sand and helped Trump and Mitch
McConnell to pack the courts with judges representing the far-right fringe of
the country."
As Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) continues
to ram through President Donald Trump's extreme and unqualified judicial
nominees at a record pace, a report card released
on Friday slammed Senate Democrats for aiding the right-wing takeover of
America's courts.
According to Demand Justice, a
progressive advocacy group that focuses on the federal judiciary, a majority of
Senate Democrats voted to confirm Trump's judges 60 percent of the time or more
in 2017 and 2018.
As a result, more than a third
of Senate Democrats received either a D or an F grade in the new report card,
which examined votes on Trump's Supreme Court, district court, and circuit
court nominees.
"Senators can condemn
Trump until they're blue in the face, but actions speak louder than words, and
when it comes to judges, too many Democrats vote too often with Trump,"
Brian Fallon, executive director of Demand Justice, said in a statement.
"A disappointing number of Democrats have buried their heads in the sand
and helped Trump and Mitch McConnell to pack the courts with judges
representing the far-right fringe of the country."
The report card graded
Democrats using several metrics, including votes to confirm Trump's nominees
and votes to advance judges by invoking cloture. Senators were also penalized
if they returned a "blue slip"—an expression of approval—for judges
in their home states.
Due to their frequent votes to
advance and confirm Trump's nominees, Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Amy Klobuchar
(Minn.), Tom Carper (Del.), Mark Warner (Va.), and Michael Bennet (Colo.) all
received F grades from Demand Justice.
"Trump and Senate
Republicans aren't carrying out this hijacking of our courts on their
own," the report notes. "If we truly want to defeat Trump's agenda,
Democrats can't surrender this fight. Senate Democrats ought to be opposing
each and every judge that Trump nominates."
To ensure that Democrats are
held accountable for their votes, Demand Justice is launching
a digital ad buy in the home states of lawmakers who received failing
grades—an effort to let voters know that their senators are aiding Trump's
transformation of the nation's courts.
While condemning senators who
received failing grades, Demand Justice applauded the Senate Democrats who
consistently vote against Trump's disproportionately
young and ideologically extreme lifetime judicial nominees.
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii)
received an A grade and the top score from Demand Justice.
Though Klobuchar received an F
for her frequent votes to advance Trump's nominees, other 2020 presidential
candidates fared much better, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) receiving an
A and Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) receiving an A-.
Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.)
and Kirsten Gillibrand both received a B+.
"This report card should
send a message to every Democrat, especially those who have their eyes on the
White House in 2020, that progressives will hold them accountable if they don't
take the fate of our courts seriously," said Fallon.
The Demand Justice report card
comes as McConnell is reportedly
considering changing Senate rules—often called the "nuclear
option"—to speed the confirmation of Trump's judicial picks.
Angel Padilla, national policy
director at Indivisible, told The Daily Beast that Democratic
senators must do everything in their power to stop McConnell's efforts to
completely reshape the federal judiciary for generations to come.
"We've heard loud and
clear from our movement that they expect senators to do everything in their
power to resist Trump's takeover of the courts," Padilla said. "The
rights we are all working so hard to protect can and will be undone if Trump
succeeds in filling the courts with extreme and unqualified judges."
