Constitutional Law

Bush's Appointees Move Majority of Appeals Courts To the Right

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals exemplifies the ideological tilt that has taken place over the course of the Bush administration on the majority of the federal appeals courts, reports The Washington Post. In an article examining the rightward tilt of the 13 appeals court circuits, the newspaper focuses on the 6th Circuit, where according to its analysis, panels dominated by judges nominated by Democrats have been reversed by the full court, which is dominated by Bush appointees, “17 times, out of 28 decisions” during the past five years.

“Although the impact of Bush’s judicial appointments is most often noticed at the Supreme Court,” The Post reported, “it has played out much more frequently and more importantly here [the 6th Circuit] and in the nation’s 12 other appellate courts, where his appointees and their liberal counterparts are waging often-bitter ideological battles. After Bush’s eight years in office, Republic-appointed majorities firmly control the outcomes in 10 of these courts, compared with seven after President Bill Clinton’s tenure.”

Full post as published by ACS Blog on December 08, 2008 (boomark / email).