Politics

Report: Progressives Prepare To Take Over Courts If Biden Wins

(Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images)

Varun Hukeri General Assignment & Analysis Reporter
Font Size:

Progressive groups are preparing to reshape the courts if presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden wins the 2020 presidential election, according to statements reported by HuffPost.

More than half a dozen groups told HuffPost they are already coming up with names for potential judicial nominees and crafting policy objectives that could be accomplished if progressive judges are appointed to the federal judiciary.

Biden currently holds a 6.9 point lead over President Donald Trump according to a Real Clear Politics polling average, and a number of election forecasts are predicting that Biden is likely to win in November.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA - APRIL 30: Democratic presidential candidate and former vice president Joe Biden holds a campaign event at the Veterans Memorial Building on April 30, 2019 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Biden is on his first visit to the state since announcing that he was officially seeking the Democratic nomination for president. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Presumptive Democratic nominee and former vice president Joe Biden (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“I would be lying if I said — in fact, any civil rights or progressive organization would be lying — if they said there aren’t people they would prefer to see on the bench, because the courts are significant to our ability to advance the constitutional rights and protections that we are committed to advancing,” said Myesha Braden, director of the progressive Building the Bench initiative.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made judicial confirmations a top priority for Republicans in the Senate, according to The Hill.

The Senate has confirmed more than 200 of Trump’s judicial appointees, including two associate justices of the Supreme Court, 53 judges for the courts of appeals, 146 judges for the district courts and two judges for the Court of International Trade. (RELATED: It May Be Time For The President To Put The Federal Courts Back In Their Constitutional Lane)

US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (L) reacts as President Donald Trump speaks to the press before a meeting with Republican Congressional leaders at the White House in Washington, DC, on September 5, 2018. (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP) (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reacts as President Donald Trump speaks to the press (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

Democrats and progressive groups have complained about the lack of diversity among Trump’s judicial appointees, NPR reported. Progressives are likely to build upon former President Barack Obama’s legacy of appointing more women, minority and LGBT judges to the federal courts, according to the HuffPost.

Demand Justice chief counsel Christopher Kang said progressive judicial advocacy groups would make sure that under a Biden presidency “the pool of potential judicial candidates would be overflowing with diverse, progressive lawyers suddenly willing to raise their hands.”

Demographic characteristics like race and gender are not the only factors progressive groups are interested in, according to the HuffPost. They are also likely to consider aspects like geography, education and the branch of law a judge practiced.

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 30: United States Supreme Court (Front L-R) Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Jr., (Back L-R) Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Elena Kagan and Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh pose for their official portrait at the in the East Conference Room at the Supreme Court building November 30, 2018 in Washington, DC. Earlier this month, Chief Justice Roberts publicly defended the independence and integrity of the federal judiciary against President Trump after he called a judge who had ruled against his administration’s asylum policy “an Obama judge.” “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts said in a statement. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.” (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Portrait of the Supreme Court Justices (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“We should stop nominating corporate law firm partners and nominate more public defenders and criminal defense lawyers than prosecutors,” Kang said. “We must continue to prioritize a judiciary that reflects our nation and also more lawyers who have represented individuals — civil rights plaintiffs, immigrants, unions and the poor.”

Progressives also said they wanted to make the federal judiciary a top priority if Biden wins in order to reverse the gains made by Trump and McConnell. (RELATED: Here’s What To Expect In 2021: Judicial Overhaul)

“A big lesson is making sure judges are a priority on day one,” said Lena Zwarensteyn, director of the Fair Courts Campaign at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

Some groups told HuffPost the contentious nomination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was a wake up call for many progressives to get serious about the courts.

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 06: Hundreds of protesters occupy the center steps of the East Front of the U.S. Capitol after breaking through barricades to demonstrate against the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh October 06, 2018 in Washington, DC. The Senate is scheduled to vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation later in the day. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Protesters demonstrate against the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh in Washington, DC (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“You’ve got to make it a priority,” said People For the American Way executive vice president Marge Baker. “The reason Trump has over 200 nominees is because they made it a priority, both in terms of getting the nominations to the Senate, but also made it a Senate priority.”

Recent comments from Biden earlier this indicated that the presumptive nominee will attempt to diversify the federal judiciary. He has already pledged to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court, NBC News reported.

The Human Rights Campaign is reportedly “very much talking” with the Biden campaign about nominating LGBT judges to the courts, the organization’s government affairs director David Stacy told HuffPost.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel