Well Played: President Trump Gets Even with Feinstein

President Trump responded to Senator Dianne Feinstein’s horrendous treatment of newest SCOTUS Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

He ignored her blue slips.

In the Senate, a blue slip is a form given to a state senator to write his or her opinion about a federal judicial nominee from his or her home state. The use of the blue slip is not part of the official Senate rules. Rather, it is an informal practice that began in 1917 during the 65th Congress. The first blue slip is believed to have been created by Senator Culberson of Texas, who was then the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Presidents historically will consider the nominees for various positions as a point of courtesy for the Senators. Not any more.

What would possibly make Feinstein believe that President Trump would remotely consider her recommendations?

We wrote of these appointments in the latter part of 2017.

But the biggest changes remain somewhat unseen. And it has to do with the judiciary. Trump is a judge appointing machine.

According to the Washington Times,

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that he hopes to have a total of 12 judges confirmed by the end of the year.

“The principal way we’re changing America is through the court system. Not only [Justice] Neil Gorsuch, I saved that seat for the next president, and it turned out to be Donald Trump and not Hillary Clinton. We also have a record number of vacancies in federal and district courts going back to the 1950s,” Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican, said on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.”

“We’re rapidly filling them. Let me tell you the definition of rapidly. We’ve already done nine circuit judges this year. Barack Obama did three in his first year, and he had 60 Democratic senators,” the senator explained.

Mr. McConnell added that he hopes to have another three judges confirmed before the end of the year bringing the total to 12.

He also said the confirmation process for non-Cabinet members may be changing due to the slow nature of getting nominees through the Senate.

Trump has done far more since then, Kavanaugh notwithstanding.

As I wrote on the subject of Federal judges, take a look at what’s been quietly happening with the courts.

In a report from July 2018, Pew Research documents Trump’s wholesale changes to the judiciary”

Donald Trump has successfully appointed more federal appeals court judges so far in his presidency than Barack Obama and George W. Bush combined had appointed at the same point in theirs, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Federal Judicial Center. And with his nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Trump soon could install his second justice on the nation’s highest court, too.

Trump will install Kavanaugh.

Then he will likely install one to two more. But things get really dicey for the Left, when you look at Trump’s next judiciary achievements.

As of July 12, Trump has successfully appointed 43 judges, including one Supreme Court justice (Neil Gorsuch), 22 appeals court judges and 20 district judges. Dozens of other court nominees are awaiting votes in the Senate, including two more appeals court judges who could be confirmed this week.

While a few of Trump’s predecessors going back to Jimmy Carter had also appointed a Supreme Court justice by July 12 of their second year in office, none had appointed close to as many appeals court members – the powerful judges who sit just below the Supreme Court level.

I called Kavanaugh’s confirmation in July ’18.

Trump is insuring that Conservatives have control for some time. And judges is the best way to make sure this happens.

So Feinstein will need to get over herself. And let’s hope Grassley was serious about that investigation into the Kavanaugh witch hunt. The outcome of that will weaken the Democrats for at least a decade.

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