Trump wants 'Republican judges' to 'do the right thing' as his appeals hang in the balance
Former President Donald Trump recently suggested that he expects Republican-appointed judges to rule in his favor as his fate in his two upcoming federal criminal trials rests in their hands.
In a Saturday post to his Truth Social account, the 45th president of the United States complained that federal judges appointed by Republican presidents don't always put politics first, and suggested that they shouldn't be afraid to make overtly partisan rulings.
"Republican Judges are very often afraid to do the right thing. They go out of their way to show they are totally impartial, to the point of making really bad and unfair decisions," Trump stated. "Their counterparts, Judges appointed by Democrats, like Biden or Obama, laugh at the stupidity of it all. They go out of their way to follow the party line, they don’t give the opposition a chance. Such a difference — It is so SAD to see!
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Trump wrote the post as his argument for absolute broad presidential immunity is currently being considered by a three-judge DC Circuit Court of Appeals panel consisting of two judges appointed by President Joe Biden (Michelle Childs and Florence Y. Pan), and one judge appointed by the late former President George H.W. Bush (Karen Henderson). However, Trump has appointed several members of the DC Circuit, along with three justices currently sitting on the Supreme Court of the United States. Should the appellate panel rule against him, he could file an en banc motion for the full circuit to consider his argument, or hope for a stay of the panel's decision by SCOTUS.
Of course, Trump has already reaped the benefits of a 6-3 conservative SCOTUS majority — most notably its 2022 ruling in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case that overturned Roe v. Wade. In the wake of that decision, NPR reported that the Roberts Court was the "most conservative in 90 years," citing a study that found conservatives prevailed in approximately 62% of rulings in the most recent SCOTUS term.
The former president's appointees in the lower courts have also frequently ruled in favor of conservatives in recent years. In 2022, Politico reported on a Trump appointee in Arkansas who limited enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, a Trump-appointed judge in Florida who struck down public transportation masking requirements in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and a Trump appointee in Texas who prevented President Joe Biden from lifting pandemic-era immigration restrictions Trump imposed in 2020.
The most high-profile Trump appointee capable of impacting his current legal circumstances is Judge Aileen Cannon, in the Southern District of Florida. Early Saturday morning, Cannon denied a motion by Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith to compel Trump to disclose whether he would deploy an advice of counsel defense. Cannon argued disclosure wasn't yet necessary until other pre-trial matters were resolved, prompting legal experts to accuse the judge of aiding the former president's strategy of delaying his criminal trials until after the presidential election.
READ MORE: Experts: Judge Cannon 'running out the clock' for Trump after denying Jack Smith motion
