A Leveraged Judiciary

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⚖️ A column about facts of the judiciary you know about below

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How to Leverage the Judiciary in Your Favor

Trump is currently waiting to hear his fate in his criminal “hush money” trial in New York. The former president stands accused of using political campaign funds to pay off porn star Stormy Daniels, in an attempt to bury the story of their affair in the run up to the 2016 election. All signs point to a likely guilty verdict rendered against Trump in this trial.

Of course, this is not the only trial Trump has on his docket. Slowly unfolding down south in the sunshine state is Trump’s much more serious trial: the one in which he is being investigated for withholding potentially top-secret documents far after he left office; some of which might still be missing to this day.

But Trump’s team seemed to have planned for a potential trial in Florida years in advance. On May 21, 2020, at age 39, Judge Aileen Cannon was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as a district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida; the district which Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home sits within.

The majority of the 94 federal district courts in the US use a random assignment process when deciding which Judges oversee which cases. The intent of this is to “deter judge-shopping and the assignment of cases based on the perceived merits or abilities of a particular judge. It promotes the impartiality of proceedings and bolsters public confidence in the federal Judiciary,” said Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr., secretary of the Judicial Conference.

In this instance, Judge Cannon’s appointment made her one of only four judges to sit in the Fort Pierce District court house, the “sub district” in the area. Meaning any case brought forth in this location had a 1 in 4 shot of landing in Judge' Cannon’s lap. Luckily for Trump, this is exactly what happened.

So Trump, in his last year in office, appointed a young and highly inexperienced judge to oversee the district in the backyard of his own home. This investment is currently working out in his favor.

Judge Cannon (who Trump has said on social he would appoint to the Supreme Court if he is elected) is certifiably in the hot seat, as her rulings during the pre-trial and scheduling of the case have left legal scholars bewildered and stunned. Some have even accused her of intentionally slow walking the case. As of May, Judge Cannon has indefinitely postponed the trial, citing a number of complex disputes that must be resolved before moving forward

At best, Judge Cannon is just an unpracticed new judge, with only 14 total days of criminal trial under her belt, and is in way over her head in this specific case. At worst, some fear, she is an acting agent of Trump; a friendly plant, whose express purpose is to help delay Trump’s trial as long as possible.

This would not be the first time a federal district judge appointed by Trump has been leveraged for political gain.

Back in 2017, Trump and Texas Republicans found a loophole to the random case assignment process. That loophole is U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a highly controversial, hyper-partisan conservative judge. Thanks to a very obscure rule, 95% of all civil lawsuits filed in Amarillo land in front of this one single judge.

Meaning, if you were a more conservative inclined interest group, that say, wanted to ban the mailing of abortion pills (which are FDA approved). You could bring a lawsuit forward at the federal courthouse in Amarillo, and you would nearly guarantee that judge Kacsmaryk, who is quite friendly to your beliefs will hear the case and rule in your favor.

The above is not a hypothetical. It really happened in April of 2023. Judge Kacsmaryk, (who has zero medical background whatsoever) really did rule that the chemical Mifepristone (which is used in 63% of abortions and is an FDA approved drug with over 20 years of safety data) should be federally banned.

This ruling was shot down quickly be several other federal courts, but you get the idea.

Game the judiciary by appointing judges friendly to your politics in strategic locations, then bring forward lawsuits that aim to overturn polices you don’t like. At some point, a few will stick.

Thankfully, federal courts have recently taken action in response by tightening rules to deter this “judge-shopping” practice.

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Our judicial system is likely the least understood branch of our government by the average person, yet it is perhaps the most impactful on our lives. The judiciary is not some morally grey and neutral segment of government that you can ignore. While much of the “in your face” partisan politics occurs in Congress, the judiciary will quietly either protect, or slowly chip away at our freedoms.

We do not get to elect Federal Judges or Supreme Court Justices. The only say we have in the selection of Federal judges is who we vote for as President. Remember that when November rolls around.