2020 Dems’ opposition builds against Trump judges
Published in Politico
The topic of the federal judiciary even came up in the first Democratic debate in June. Booker pledged that he would appoint judges who would enforce antitrust law, while Julián Castro and Sanders vowed to nominate only judges who upheld Roe v. Wade. Sanders added that he believed that “constitutionally we have the power to rotate judges to other courts,” which he said “brings in new blood into the Supreme Court.”
Both conservative and liberal judicial groups are planning to capitalize on the issue during the 2020 campaign cycle. The conservative Judicial Crisis Network spent $1.1 million on national ad buys intended to pressure former Vice President Joe Biden and other 2020 candidates to release a list of who they would appoint to the Supreme Court, citing Trump’s decision to release a list during his 2016 campaign.
The liberal Alliance for Justice, meanwhile, has launched a recruitment effort to identify potential nominees. Demand Justice is preparing a list of qualifications of judicial nominees the group would like to see implemented, in addition to its “report cards” on the nominees.