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Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears

Trump's judges are taking a sledgehammer to our rights and freedoms. Use this tool to see the total impact.

The Latest

Invalidating firearms law

Williams v. Attorney General

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Stripping due process rights from immigrant

Sosnava Rodriguez v. Vergara

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Immunizing prison officials against harmful conditions

Baily v. Mich. Dept. of Corrections

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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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Qualified immunity

Chandler v. Guttierrez

Trump Ninth Circuit Judge Mark Bennett would have given qualified immunity to a prison warden alleged to have ignored reports that his staff was ignoring a prisoner's serious medical condition.

 
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Restarted the border wall

Trump v. Sierra Club

Trump Supreme Court Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were critical to the Court's reversal of lower court opinions that had stopped construction of Trump's border wall to prevent irreparable injury.

 
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Tried to limit prison conditions' suits

Taylor v. Grubbs

Trump Fourth Circuit Judge Julius Richardson claimed that when a district court dismisses three lawsuits concerning improper prison practices by an incarcerated person at around the same time, the individual cannot appeal even one of those rulings unless he or she prepays the full filing fee, and cannot seek to waive or defer such costs based on lack of money.

 
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Banned public speech

Evans v. Sandy City

Trump Tenth Circuit Judge Allison Eid cast the deciding vote to approve a city ordinance that banned all speech on most street medians.

 
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Allowed unfair sentencing

Walker v. U.S.

Trump Sixth Circuit Judges Bush, Thapar, Larsen, Nalbandian, Readler, and Murphy join en banc refusal to rehear a case on enhanced sentences under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) despite dissent by Kethledge.

 
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Upheld abortion gag rule

California v. Azar

Trump Ninth Circuit Judges Miller and Lee cast key votes in a decision that keeps in effect the controversial Trump administration domestic gag rule that restricts federally-funded health clinics from discussing abortion with their patients.

 
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Harmed immigrants' rights

Xingli v. Barr

Trump Ninth Circuit Judge Eric Miller would have denied appeal of denial of asylum by the Bureau of Immigration Appeals because a large portion of the administrative record was missing.

 
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Harmed immigrants' rights

Ishimwe v. Barr

Trump Ninth Circuit Judge Ryan Nelson would have upheld the government's denial of petition for asylum and relief under the Convention Against Torture treaty, a denial that was criticized by a majority that included George W. Bush-appointed Judge N. Randy Smith.

 
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Allowed unfairly long sentence

U.S. v. Two Crow

Trump Eighth Circuit Judge Steven Grasz cast the deciding vote that allowed a lower court to sentence a man to prison for a longer period than Congress authorized for the federal crime he committed, raising serious constitutional concerns.

 
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Upheld abortion gag rule

Mayor & City Council of Baltimore v. Azar

Trump Fourth Circuit Judges Richardson and Rushing ruled that despite a district court's preliminary injunction striking it down, the Trump administration's dangerous domestic gag rule that forbids federally-funded health clinics from discussing abortion with their patients can go into effect in Baltimore while the injunction is appealed.

 
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Unapproved safety equipment

Peabody Twentymile v. Secretary of Labor

Trump Tenth Circuit Judge Allison Eid cast the deciding vote and authored the opinion in a ruling that overturned a citation for unapproved safety equipment at a Colorado coal mine.

 
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Race discrimination claim

Hassen v. Ruston Louisiana Hospital Company

Trump Fifth Circuit Judge Don Willett wrote a ruling that affirmed a lower court's dismissal without trial of a woman's claim that a hospital refused to hire her because she is Black, despite evidence that the hospital's explanation for not hiring her was false.

 
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Rejected claim against police by protesters

Hartman v. Thompson

Trump Sixth Circuit Judge John K. Bush cast the deciding vote to affirm a lower court ruling that dismissed without trial a group of protesters' claims that their free speech rights were violated and they were improperly arrested when they attempted to protest the discriminatory policies of the Kentucky Farm Bureau (KFB).

 
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Harmed fair housed rights

Inclusive Communities Project v. Lincoln Property Co.

Trump Fifth Circuit Judges Ho, Willett, Duncan, Engelhardt, and Oldham cast the majority of the nine votes that denied rehearing of a previous split decision by Engelhardt that significantly undermined the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA).

 
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Use of force claim

McCottrell v. White

Trump Seventh Circuit Judge Barrett dissents from ruling by George H. W. Bush appointee to reverse summary judgment against prisoners regarding the excessive use of force by firing buckshot over heads of prisoners in dining hall.

 
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Child slave labor

Doe v. Nestle

Trump Ninth Circuit Judge Mark Bennett wrote a dissent from a rehearing denial, arguing that Nestle and another large U.S. corporation could not be sued for aiding and abetting the use of child slave labor to produce cocoa in Africa.

 
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Allowed second prosecution after acquittal

Langley v. Prince

Trump Fifth Circuit Judges Duncan, Engelhardt, Ho, Oldham, and Willett joined an opinion that reversed a panel decision and ruled that double jeopardy did not bar a second prosecution of someone for specific intent to murder, despite an acquittal six years earlier.

 
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Allowed unjustified search warrants

U.S. v. Tyrone Christian

Trump Sixth Circuit Judges Bush, Larsen, Murphy, Nalbandian, Readler, and Thapar joined an en banc ruling watering down what constitutes probable cause.

 
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Census restrictions

Department of Commerce v. New York

Trump Supreme Court Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch make majority to say Commerce had authority and evidence to include citizenship question on census, but dissent with Thomas and Alito from ruling that Commerce was dishonest and case must be remanded.

 
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Weakened debt collection protection

Casillas v. Madison Avenue Associates

Trump Seventh Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett wrote an opinion ruling that Paula Casillas did not have standing to enforce a clear violation of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

 
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Enabled partisan gerrymandering

Rucho v. Common Cause

Trump Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was the fifth vote to deny specific challenges of unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering; he was also the fifth vote to keep the door open to future challenges.

 
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Racial discrimination

Davis v. District of Columbia

Trump D.C. Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas dissented from a ruling that allowed a group of laid off employees to pursue a claim that their employer's layoff improperly targeted Black workers.

 
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Upheld forced medication

U.S. v. Michael James Seaton

Trump Tenth Circuit Judge Allison Eid cast the deciding vote in favor of forcibly medicating an individual so that he can be made competent enough to stand trial.

 
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School could fire teacher for disability

Biel v. St. James School

Trump Ninth Circuit Judges Bade, Bennett, Collins, and Nelson dissented from a decision not to have a larger panel of the full court rehear a decision that allowed a teacher to pursue a claim that a religious school improperly fired her because she had breast cancer.

 
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Changed precedent in land cases

Knick v. Township of Scott

Trump Supreme Court Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh joined a decision that overruled a 35-year-old precedent and said that local governments must pay in advance when they take property via eminent domain or face immediate federal lawsuits.

 
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