With the Senate Republicans’ unprecedented obstruction of Merrick Garland’s nomination and a trio of current justices soon to be or already over age 80, the future of the Supreme Court is central to this year’s election. But the focus on the Supreme Court overshadows the election’s larger meaning for the courts. No matter who the next president is, he or she will have also a significant impact on the makeup of the federal judiciary by appointing judges to the lower courts. In this post, we predict how significant that impact will be. By looking at how the circuit courts have changed in the recent past, combined with how many judges are eligible to retire in the coming years, we get a relatively clear picture of how the next two presidential elections will affect the circuit courts’ composition.
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Judicial Selection
Every day, federal judges protect the Constitution, place a check on overzealous legislatures, and help Americans find justice.
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Access to Justice
Over the past several decades, a conservative-led campaign has eviscerated the ability of Americans to have their day in court.
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Supreme Court
We fight to hold the court to the highest ethical standards, and we fight for a court that upholds the rights of everyday Americans.
Blog
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Benched! The “Thurmond Rule,” and other Republican excuses to avoid doing work
An extraordinary idea surfaced at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s weekly business meeting last Thursday. Senator Diane Feinstein, a member of the committee since 1993, proposed that senators stop debating the meaning of the so-called Thurmond Rule—which we’ve previously described as “a figment of the partisan imagination invoked to give an air of legitimacy to . . . pure obstruction”—and that instead members of the committee “just sit down and do our job” to fairly consider and process judicial nominees.
AFJ in the News
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Warren on the warpath, blasts GOP for blockade of Obama’s court nominees
Sen. Elizabeth Warren accused Senate Republicans Monday of waging a systematic campaign to block nearly all of President Obama’s judicial and executive branch nominees. Ms. Warren, Massachusetts Democrat and one of the left’s most aggressive attack dogs, said the GOP’s stonewalling of Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court is “only the latest example of Senate Republicans’ overall approach to Obama administration nominees.”
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Elizabeth Warren: Republicans, stop obstructing Obama
Just hours after news broke of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s passing, Donald Trump gave Senate Republicans three words of advice on filling the vacancy: “delay, delay, delay.” Senate Republicans didn’t need his advice: that has been their strategy for years. Before Barack Obama set foot in the Oval Office, Sen. Mitch McConnell and his Republican colleagues decided to block him at every turn — no matter what. They publicly promised to make government work, but away from the cameras they deployed stall-and-delay tactics to stop the government in its tracks.
Press Releases
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Alliance for Justice statement on today’s hearing examining the CFPB’s proposed rule on forced arbitration
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 18, 2016—Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron released the following statement in advance of the hearing in the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit of the Committee on Financial Services, entitled, “Examining the CFPB’s Proposed Rulemaking on Arbitration: Is it in the Public Interest and for the Protection… Read more »
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Alliance for Justice releases comprehensive report examining the judicial record of Supreme Court nominee Judge Merrick Garland
The Garland Record examines in detail Judge Garland’s views on access to civil justice, civil rights, administrative law (including the environment, labor, and workplace safety), national security and detainee rights, the Freedom of Information Act, criminal law, and constitutional issues including the First Amendment, Second Amendment, due process, and the scope of federal power.
Featured Resource
The Right to Unite (2015)
Actor, activist, and union member Bradley Whitford narrates this powerful documentary about Supreme Court cases that threaten to undermine the rights of working Americans – and how we can fight back.
New AFJ Report: The Garland Record
For this new report, AFJ analyzed 450 cases Judge Garland decided as a judge on the D.C. Circuit, as well as his extra-judicial writings and materials from his confirmation to the D.C. Circuit.
Click here to visit The Garland Record
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