TRUMP AND HIS “ACTIVIST JUDGES”

For years, right-wing talk show hosts and other right-wingers railed against Democrats for appointing ideologically committed judges, thus corrupting the nation’s judicial system and  gutting it of its professional qualifications. They called these judges “activist judges” because they favored legalized abortion, affirmative action, civil rights consideration for minority groups and other unethical positions. In 2002 Rush Limbaugh wrote a piece titled “Why Liberals will do Anything to Get Activist Judges.” But in the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump vowed to name conservative judges who would back conservative positions, and in doing to secured the financial backing of the Koch brothers, the DeVos family, etc. During his 3 years in office, this is exactly what he has done, unabashedly. That’s because the new right and the neo-cons are more upfront about their tactics and agenda than the traditional right. Now these Trump-appointed judges are claiming that they have the right to belong to the hardly politically neutral Federalist Society. Today’s New York Times reported that “all but eight of Mr. Trump’s 51 appointees to the appellate bench had ties to the organization, nearly twice as many as under President George W. Bush. All but six of Mr. Trump’s appellate appointees signed the letter” asserting the right to belong to the Federalist Society. “Do as I say not as I do” appears to be the motto of the U.S. right.