The Latest
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We can't let this be the new normal.
Confirmed Judges Confirmed Fears tracks the damaging impacts of Trump-appointed judges around the country, and chronicles the decisions that hurt all of us.
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Rejecting immigrant's attempt to cancel deportation
Rios-Rocha v Bondi
Trump judges Lee and Bade issued an unsigned 2-1 decision that denied Rios-Rocha’s petition and affirmed the deportation ruling against him. The majority maintained that the IJ had the authority to exclude the expert affidavit and approve deportation and committed no errors in doing so.
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Throwing out remedy against Starbucks for unfair labor practices
NLRB v Starbucks
Trump judge Readler wrote a 2-1 decision, joined by George H.W. Bush nominee Alice Batchelder, that affirmed the NLRB finding of an unfair labor practice, but reversed the decision to award damages to Whitbeck. Readler claimed that the NLRB had no statutory or other authority to provide such damages.
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Throwing out policy protecting trans students
Defending Education v. Olentangy School Dist.
A group of parents challenged a policy of the Olentangy School District (OSD) in Ohio aimed at preventing bullying and harassment of transgender students by prohibiting other students from repeatedly mis-gendering them.
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Exempting anti-abortion group from providing contraception
Oregon Right to Life v Stolfi
Oregon Right to Life (ORTL), an anti-abortion group, did not want to provide contraceptive and abortion insurance coverage to its employees. It claimed that a state law requiring it to provide such insurance violated its religious beliefs.
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Preventing women from pursuing SA claims
Bridges v Poe
Trump Eleventh Circuit judge Britt Grant wrote a 2-1 decision that stopped women who had been in Jasper County jail from pursuing claims of failing to stop sexual abuse against them for which they contended a jail official was responsible.
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Authorizing deployment of national guard
State of Oregon v Trump
Two Trump Ninth Circuit judges, Ryan Nelson and Bridget Bade, reversed a Trump district court judge and authorized Trump to federalize and deploy 300 Oregon National Guard troops to Portland, allegedly to deal with “war ravaged” disorder that has been vehemently denied as false by state and local officials.
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Granting qualified immunity
Clark v Valletta
Trump Second Circuit Judge Michael Park wrote a 2-1 decision, joined by Trump judge Richard Sullivan, that reversed a lower court and directed summary judgment for prison officials based on qualified immunity against a transgender prisoner’s claim that she failed to receive minimally adequate care for gender dysphoria.
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Subjecting 300k people to deportation
Noem v National TPS Alliance
Trump justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett cast deciding votes in a 6-3 shadow docket ruling that stopped a lower court injunction and subjected some 300,000 Venezuelans who have been in the US on temporary protected status (TPS) to immediate deportation.
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Restricting gathering of voter signatures
Florida Decides Healthcare Inc. v Florida Secretory of State
Trump Eleventh Circuit judge Barbara Lagoa wrote a 2-1 ruling, joined by Trump judge Elizabeth Branch, that reversed a lower court injunction and allowed a state law that restricts gathering of voter signatures for ballot initiatives to take effect.
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Approving rescission of foreign aid
Department of State v AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition
Trump Supreme Court justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett again cast deciding votes in a 6-3 shadow docket ruling that stopped foreign aid funding approved by Congress, this time for $4 billion. Because of the impending end of the fiscal year on September 30, the result will be to permanently cancel the appropriation.
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Authorizing firing of officials
Trump v. Slaughter
Trump Supreme Court justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett again cast the deciding votes in a 6-3 shadow docket ruling to authorize Trump to fire an agency official, this time from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), who is supposed to be protected from such action due to congressional statute. The majority also set an argument for later this Term on a Court precedent that has protected the independence of such officials.
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Immunizing guard who injured prisoner
McNair v Pratt
Trump Sixth Circuit nominee John Nalbandian cast the deciding vote to reverse the lower court and grant immunity from liability to a prison guard who severely injured a prisoner by slamming him to the ground after threatening to make him “kiss concrete” if he did not comply with directions.
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Allowing exclusion of trans healthcare
Lange v. Houston County
The other five Trump Eleventh Circuit judges (Newsom, Branch, Grant, Luck, and Lagoa) joined an 8-5 opinion for the full court by Trump judge Andrew Brasher reversing a lower court opinion that ruled that a county’s insurance policy violated Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination by excluding transgender surgery.
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Upholding firing of fed employees
State of Maryland v. Department of Agriculture
Trump Fourth Circuit judge Allison Rushing cast the deciding vote in a 2-1 ruling that reversed a lower court and upheld Trump’s firing of some 25,000 probationary federal employees in 20 states without the notice that the states contend they were owed under federal law.
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Abusing wartime deportation law
W.M.V. v. Trump
Trump Judge Andrew Oldham dissented in a Fifth Circuit case involving President Trump’s misuse of a statute that only applies during wartime or foreign invasion. He would have ruled that Trump’s ability to declare that a foreign country has invaded the U.S. cannot be questioned by a court, no matter that no such invasion has occurred. He also painted Trump as a victim who is uniquely mistreated by the courts.
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Letting university ban drag shows
Spectrum WT v. Wendler
In a dissent, Fifth Circuit Trump judge James Ho would have allowed a state university to ban drag shows. He also used his dissent to gratuitously demean transgender people, even though the case had nothing to do with trans rights.
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Approving grant termination
National Institutes of Health v American Public Health Association
Trump Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett cast deciding votes in a 5-4 shadow docket ruling that cancelled a lower court stay and let the Trump Administration go forward with terminating almost $800 million in crucial medical grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
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Rewarding government cover-up
Jenkins v. Tahmahkera
Two Trump judges ordered the dismissal of a widow’s lawsuit against government officials involved in her husband’s death in custody and subsequent coverup. Judges Cory Wilson and James Ho ruled that she had filed her lawsuit after the statute of limitations, even though it was the alleged coverup that kept her from suing sooner.
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Enjoining law concerning gun purchases
Ortega v Grisham
Trump Tenth Circuit judge Allison Eid cast the deciding vote to overturn a lower court ruling and enjoin a New Mexico law calling for a seven-day waiting period before any firearm purchase can be completed.
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Immunizing police officer who shot man
Herold v Christensen
Trump Tenth Circuit judge Allison Eid wrote a 2-1 decision that upheld a grant of qualified immunity to a police officer who shot a mentally ill man in the eye with pepper spray, causing him to lose the eye, despite the absence of a physical threat.
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Ignoring evidence of racism
Glover v. Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government
Trump judges James Ho and Cory Wilson made the majority in a ruling dismissing a discrimination lawsuit by a former police chief despite evidence that he was fired because of his race.
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Approving freezing of billions in aid
Global Health Council v Trump
Trump DC Circuit judge Greg Katsas cast the deciding vote to permit the Trump Administration to continue to freeze and refuse to spend billions in needed foreign aid approved by Congress.
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