When House Democrats publicly distributed former President Trump’s tax returns recently, it marked a new low in partisan politics spearheaded by the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. The action resembled that of a banana republic where leaders use the powers vested in them to bring harm to those with whom they have political differences. As we noted in our Nov 3 editorial, the Dems’ brand of democracy is a path to chaos in America; unprecedented, unlawful, and un-American.
But ironically, it is Trump’s court picks that are acting as the last vestige in holding up conservative American values. Each day, they serve as a crucial check on lawless behavior by both the Biden administration and Congress. Trump’s judges are doing the hard work of defending America from becoming a failed socialist state. This was a job Americans had entrusted to elected GOP officials. But, the nation watched in horror as the GOP acted like the Democrats in disguise, most recently when it blessed a $1.7 trillion boondoggle to fund the government through Sep 2023.
In the last days of 2022, as the country was digging itself out from once-in-a-century-intense storms and delays during the holiday season, the United States Supreme Court left in place Title 42, a pandemic-era policy allowing U.S. officials to rapidly expel migrants caught at the U.S.-Mexico border. Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, both Trump appointees, provided critical votes for the majority decision.
The 5-4 decision was sound as a policy bandaid, but not on the merits. We agree with the minority that there is no Covid crisis in America today. A policy implemented to protect America’s borders when Covid was rapidly spreading two years ago ought not to be used as a tool to control unbridled immigration when Covid is no longer a pandemic. In fact, we agreed with the Supreme Court when it ridiculed the CDC for overstepping its authority to penalize landlords for using Covid as a pretext.
But Washington has thus far failed to protect an assault on our southern border. Since President Biden assumed office less than two years ago, more than 4 million illegal immigrants have been apprehended and released. Most will never appear before immigration judges and integrate into American society forever.
As Congressman Tom Cole notes, the numbers are astounding. In November, more than 70,000 immigrants “got away” – people who escaped into our country without even being apprehended. Also, in 2022, border patrol agents arrested 98 individuals on the Terrorist Screening Database, more than the previous five years combined. Additionally, more than 14,000 pounds of deadly fentanyl was seized in the last year at our southern border, yet another record.
For all the empty and rhetorical talk about defending democracy by Never Trumper types like Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, and Lisa Murkowski, we want to know if they would publicly thank President Trump for how his court picks are doing for America what they themselves have so far been unwilling to do.
In August, the Senate Republican Policy Committee identified a string of conservative policy victories by the Supreme Court not by justices legislating from the bench but by resorting to originalism, a legal doctrine when judges interpret legal texts as they were understood at the time of their adoption. Each victory defended the American system of democracy and government with its three co-equal branches. Congress makes the laws, the Executive implements them, and the courts resolve disputes. Trump’s three conservative appointments often provided the majority votes.
In one example, the EPA had asserted extraordinary powers to regulate carbon emissions at West Virginia coal plants. The Supreme Court, led by Trump appointees, struck those powers down to say that the agency could not assume them unless Congress passed explicit laws giving the EPA the power. The ruling also established a precedent which means that future agencies will have more trouble asserting powers not expressly granted to them by Congress.
A 2020 paper by academics Kenneth Manning, Robert Carp, and Lisa Holmes examined 395 U.S. district court decisions handed down by 87 judges appointed to the federal trial court bench by President Trump.
The academics compared these decisions with over 117,000 opinions by over 2,400 judges published in the Federal Supplement from 1932 through 2020. The authors found that judges appointed by Trump are significantly more conservative than judges appointed by other Republican presidents in recent decades, especially in the areas of civil liberties/rights and labor/economic regulation than judges appointed by any previous Republican or Democrat dating back to JFK.
Trump appointed a third of the Supreme Court, 54 members of the circuit appeals courts, and 174 district court judges – amounting to about 30 percent of the federal bench.
For all the slander he continues to face from the Deep State, the Democrats, the media, Never Trumpers, and some in the GOP, President Trump has done more to protect America’s values and systems through his judicial picks than the rest of the GOP combined. For this accomplishment alone, the 45th President deserves our recognition and respect.
Please email [email protected]
Republished with permission from TIPP Insights
