This is big: Senate confirms five Biden federal appeals court judges in a week – By Dartagnan (Daily Kos) / Sept 16, 2022
Some people obsessively check just about every day of the week to see what the stock market’s doing. Some (it seems) check their Facebook feed every damn hour of the day. I suppose those folks might consider me a weirdo with no life, since I check the list of President Joe Biden’s federal judge nominees who have been confirmed by the Senate—with about the same regularity.
Most Americans pay attention to Supreme Court nominations because they’re a big deal, with their confirmation hearings usually a televised event. But judicial engineering by the right has been going on for years, without a great deal of our citizenry even realizing it. To the point where we now have an entire rogue federal circuit court of appeals, made up of largely unknown right-wing judges, essentially altering the law at their own whims to mesh with hard-right conservative ideology, all in anticipation that their compatriots on the Supreme Court will approve. As the last gateway to the Supreme Court, these federal circuit courts have an enormous influence on the cases that actually make their way to the Supreme Court’s docket.
Because it’s practically impossible to dislodge these folks from their cushy sinecures once they’ve received their lifetime appointments, the only real way to replace ideologically corrupted federal judges is to wait until they retire (or take “senior status”), then appoint fair and decent judges in their stead. This week, President Biden—through the Democratic-controlled Senate—managed to confirm five circuit court judges. While five confirmations in a week may not be a record, it is certainly worth celebrating.
