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Coming Soon: Donald Trump vs. Leonard Leo
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As always with Trump, he’s happy to align with anyone who helps him amass power and then dump them the first moment they become an inconvenience or threat to retaining that power. This squabble may seem like the kind of political theatre we’re used to from Trump, but coupled with other actions by his administration, it signals a new level of intentional attack on the rule of law.
Trump and his sycophants have repeatedly attacked judges who don’t rule their way, even threatening them with impeachment. Judges have responded with serious concerns for both their independence and even their safety. The administration’s attacks on law firms for litigation not aligned with its political interests are likewise an attempt to weed out legal resistance. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are considering multiple ways to gut the power of the judicial branch, whether by blocking judges from issuing universal injunctions entirely or making it financially impossible for most parties to obtain them.
The increasingly clear and blatant loyalty test for judicial nominees should trigger alarm bells. Conservative — or “originalist,” if you prefer the right’s euphemism for its judges — is no longer good enough for Trump. He wants judges who are loyal to him personally over the Constitution or the law. That crosses a new line from selecting judges who will cater to his policies on a partisan level to judges who will ensure he always wins, regardless of the outcome’s popularity on either side of the political spectrum and regardless of the law.
A perfect example is his nomination of Emil Bove to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Bove was Trump’s personal attorney in several of his criminal cases, including both the classified documents and election obstruction cases. Here is a would-be judge who proudly stood by Trump’s attacks on democracy and fought to help him get away with it. This year alone, working for Trump’s Department of Justice, Bove fired career attorneys who prosecuted January 6 cases, struck a corrupt deal with New York City Mayor Eric Adams to dismiss federal charges in exchange for cooperation on immigration enforcement efforts and threatened federal criminal prosecution against local officials who opposed Trump’s immigration policies.
Trump and his sycophants have repeatedly attacked judges who don’t rule their way, even threatening them with impeachment. Judges have responded with serious concerns for both their independence and even their safety. The administration’s attacks on law firms for litigation not aligned with its political interests are likewise an attempt to weed out legal resistance. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are considering multiple ways to gut the power of the judicial branch, whether by blocking judges from issuing universal injunctions entirely or making it financially impossible for most parties to obtain them.
The increasingly clear and blatant loyalty test for judicial nominees should trigger alarm bells. Conservative — or “originalist,” if you prefer the right’s euphemism for its judges — is no longer good enough for Trump. He wants judges who are loyal to him personally over the Constitution or the law. That crosses a new line from selecting judges who will cater to his policies on a partisan level to judges who will ensure he always wins, regardless of the outcome’s popularity on either side of the political spectrum and regardless of the law.
A perfect example is his nomination of Emil Bove to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Bove was Trump’s personal attorney in several of his criminal cases, including both the classified documents and election obstruction cases. Here is a would-be judge who proudly stood by Trump’s attacks on democracy and fought to help him get away with it. This year alone, working for Trump’s Department of Justice, Bove fired career attorneys who prosecuted January 6 cases, struck a corrupt deal with New York City Mayor Eric Adams to dismiss federal charges in exchange for cooperation on immigration enforcement efforts and threatened federal criminal prosecution against local officials who opposed Trump’s immigration policies.
https://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/trumps-spat-with-the-federalist-society-signals-a-heightened-threat-to-the-rule-of-law/
7 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Trump called him “a real ‘sleazebag’” and a “bad person,” claiming that Leo “probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions.”
