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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Harmed voted rights
Thomas v. Bryant
Trump Fifth Circuit Judge Don Willett tries to reverse finding of improper redrawing of state senate district lines to harm Black voters and to restrict voting rights remedies, threatening voting rights for all minorities in deep south states in the Fifth Circuit.
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False arrest claim
DeGroot v. U.S.
Trump Ninth Circuit Judge Mark Bennett dissented from a decision reversing the district court's dismissal of a truck driver's false arrest and false imprisonment claims against border patrol agents, despite the driver being acquitted of wrongdoing by a jury.
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Allowed warentless search
U.S. v. Calderon-Fuentes
Trump Eleventh Circuit Judge Kevin Newsom made the difference in a panel ruling that a criminal defendant had consented to a warrantless search even though the agents lied about who they were and why they were there.
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Trying to grant police qualified immunity
Rudolph v. Babinec
Trump Sixth Circuit Judge Amul Thapar argues in dissent that there should be no accountability for police forcing a woman to leave her home in the middle of the night for a psychiatric examination, threatening privacy rights.
Judges
Month decided
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Let president fire independent agency heads
Collins v. Mnuchin
Trump Fifth Circuit Judges Ho, Oldham, Engelhardt, and Duncan join Willett's opinion that gives power to the president to fire the head of an independent housing finance agency and helps hedge fund and other investors, threatening Congress' authority.
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Upheld unfair conviction
U.S. v. Catching
Trump Sixth Circuit Judge Chad Readler argued in dissent that an individual who was on parole was properly returned to prison for five years for trafficking marijuana, even though the only proof that he was trafficking was that he was driving the car where the marijuana was found.
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Unfair jury selection
Howell v. Sup't Rockville SCI
Trump Third Circuit Judge David Porter cast the deciding vote that rejected a Black man's claim that Black people were improperly excluded from a jury pool, threatening Black people's Sixth Amendment rights throughout the states in the Third Circuit and elsewhere.
Judges
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Upheld unjustified police stop
U.S. v. Curry
Trump Fourth Circuit Judge Julius Richardson writes divided opinion reversing lower court decision and allowing police to stop someone without reasonable suspicion, threatening arbitrary stop-and-frisks by police in future cases.
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Upheld unfair death sentence
Anderson v. Kelley
Trump Eighth Circuit Judge David Stras cast the deciding vote against a death row inmate's Sixth Amendment violation claim against his attorney who failed to present evidence of his fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, despite a dissent by Trump Judge Jonathan Kobes.
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Failure to protect student from sex crimes
Pearson v. Logan University
Trump Eighth Circuit Judge Jonathan Kobes cast the deciding vote denying a female student's Title IX claim against her university for failure to protect her against stalking and sexual harassment.
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Required display of religious ads
Northeastern PA Freethought Society v. County of Lackawanna Transit System
Trump Third Circuit Judge David Porter cast the deciding vote to require a public transit company to display ads related to religion as opposed to other topics on its buses, threatening the same result or the banning of all private ads whatsoever on transit systems throughout the Third Circuit.
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Dismissing injured person's claim
Chronis v. U.S.
Trump Seventh Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett dismissed an injured patient's suit for not seeking compensation at an administrative level the way a lawyer would have, rather than how an ordinary person unable to afford counsel would have.
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Executed someone with a mental disability
Jenkins v. Commissioner
Trump Eleventh Circuit Judge Elizabeth Branch writes 2-1 decision that execution of death-row prisoner with an IQ of 78 can go forward, even though his lawyer failed to present available mitigating evidence at the penalty phase of his trial, establishing a troubling precedent with respect to the death penalty throughout the Eleventh Circuit states of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.
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Tried to limit access to video evidence
Lennear v. Wilson
Trump Fourth Circuit Judge Julius Richardson tried to deny access to video evidence that could help incarcerated persons defend charges against them that threaten to force them to serve more time in prison.
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Tried to limit foster parents' rights
New York State Citizens' Coalition v. Poole
Trump Second Circuit Judges Sullivan, Park, and Bianco join dissent from refusal to reconsider decision that foster parents can sue for adequate payments to care for foster children under federal law.
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Harmed immigrant
Bastardo-Vale v. Attorney General
Trump Third Circuit Judges Bibas, Porter, and Matey join decision overturning prior precedent and excluding an immigrant from consideration for asylum because of a misdemeanor, contradicting federal law and harming immigrants.
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