Sen. Dan Sullivan is among those praising President Donald Trump for nominating an historic number of conservative judges to the federal bench.
Last week the president had his 158th judicial nominee confirmed. This includes two Supreme Court justices, 44 Circuit Court judges and 112 District Court judges. Approximately one out of every four active judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals has now been appointed by Trump.
“President Trump has nominated a historic number of federal judges who will interpret the law and Constitution as written,” Sullivan said in a campaign email to Alaskans. “This means President Trump has confirmed more judges in his first term than any president in recent history.”
Sullivan noted that the transformation of the judiciary will have an impact on Alaskans.
“Right now, we almost have an equal number of liberal and conservative judges on the 9th Circuit – a stark contrast from where we stood just three years ago,” he said. “We now have a shot to break the tie.”
Sullivan is making transformation of the judiciary a campaign issues as he seeks reelection in 2020.
“Help us fight to appoint more conservative judges to the 9th Circuit and across the federal judiciary,” he wrote. “As your Senator, I will continue to thoroughly vet these judicial candidates to ensure they uphold not only the Constitution but Alaskan values!”
According to whitehouse.gov Trump’s appointments have already flipped the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from a Democrat-appointed majority to a Republican-appointed majority.
“The Second and Eleventh Circuits are likely to flip by the end of this year,” the website states. “The average age of circuit judges appointed by President Trump is less than 50 years old – a full 10 years younger than the average age of President Obama’s circuit nominees.”
While the vast majority of Trump’s nominees have been praised by conservatives and pro-life advocates, he has nominated a few judges who have drawn criticism from those quarters.
This summer he nominated Judge Mary Rowland for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Rowland is “married” to her lesbian partner and has been a member of the Lesbian & Gay Bar Association of Chicago. She has also been a member of the Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund which labeled Justice Neil Gorsuch “dangerous” for his defense of Hobby Lobby’s right to run their business in accord with deeply held beliefs.
