MB Civic

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-election-20120930,0,3145872.story

Well it’s about time there’s an article (although on page 26! of the L.A. Times September 30, 2012) about an election issue I’ve been talking about for fucking ever!

Then, incredibly, the article makes NO reference to the fact that not only is the course that the US Supreme Court will steer for possibly a generation in play, but that there are currently 14 US Court of Appeals, 60 US District Court and 2 US Court of International Trade judicial vacancies as of the date of publication, and an additional 20 known vacancies coming up by the end of 2013 – all to be appointed by the president subject to senate confirmation (think about that when supporting senatorial candidates, by the way) – out of a total of 874 federal judges serving for life. Think with what I’m sure will not be just a little sense of horror about the judicial recommendations that would be rammed down Mitt Romney’s throat by the radical right controlling his Party.

Now consider that there were around 53,000 federal appeals cases decided on their merits after oral hearings or submission on briefs during the 12-month period ending September 30, 2011 (not counting US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or lower trial court rulings), and that the Supreme Court only grants and hears oral argument in 75-80 cases per year. All but that select number (75-80) of decisions made below constitute the federal judicial law of the land that directly impacts people’s lives from year to year. Many of these decisions are in conflict with rulings on the same legal issues that are decided differently by different courts below the level of the Supreme Court in different parts of the country. (Think abortion, voting rights, campaign finance, same-sex marriage, Affordable Care Act, affirmative action, gun control, torture, and rights of privacy to name only a few.)

It is not an exaggeration to say that the long-term effects of federal judicial appointments will dramatically affect the social and political direction we take as a nation.