People for the American Way: 'Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears' – Trump Judges Show How Important Judicial Nominations Are in This Election

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 -- People for the American Way issued the following news release:

As America has already begun to vote, and as the Senate Republican majority's rushed process of pushing through the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett has come to its conclusion, recent votes and decisions by Trump justices and judges illustrate the crucial stakes in this year's elections for President and the Senate. This is shown by the links below to posts concerning 27 closely divided cases from PFAW's "Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears" blog series so far for September and October 2020.

Two important trends emerge from these decisions: 12 cases in which Trump appointees have largely succeeded in restricting voting by Americans in the upcoming November elections, and 5 cases involving efforts by Trump judges, sometimes successful, to uphold challenged policies and practices of the Trump Administration concerning reproductive rights, immigration, and the census. Specifically:

* Trump appointees have restricted voting in next week's elections by such methods as making it harder to cast absentee ballots despite the COVID-19 pandemic in Wisconsin and other states; upholding Florida's restrictions on voting by people with past felony convictions; and banning curbside voting for disabled and elderly voters in Alabama. Some Trump appointees wanted to go even further, such as Justice Gorsuch's dissents arguing that absentee ballots already cast by some South Carolina voters should be disqualified and that the North Carolina election board's extension of the time for absentee ballots to be received should be stopped. This total of 12 cases does not even include those without significant dissents, such as the unanimous ruling by three Fifth Circuit Trump judges to limit absentee ballot drop boxes in Texas. In addition, with the addition of Barrett to the Supreme Court, restrictive rulings are still possible after the election concerning voting in such key states as Pennsylvania.

* Among the crucial votes cast by Trump judges in favor of restrictive Trump policies and practices were a deciding vote by one Trump judge that upheld a Trump Administration plan to expel more than 300,000 immigrants by ending the protected status they have had for as long as two decades and a dissent by several Trump judges trying to put into effect in one state a restrictive abortion gag rule that other Trump judges have helped uphold elsewhere. Even such dissents could well become the law if they are reviewed by a Supreme Court now including Barrett or after even more Trump judges are added to lower courts.

All these cases and more center judicial nominations as a critical issue in this year's elections for President and the Senate. These cases have all been entered in our Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears tool, which you can search by judge or by issue.

* Trump Judges Help Florida Republicans Take Away Returning Citizens' Right to Vote: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Branch, Grant, Lagoa, Luck, Newsom

* Trump Judge Casts Deciding Vote to Help Trump Administration Expel More Than 300,000 Immigrants: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Nelson

* Trump Judge Tries to Let Trump Administration Stop the Census: Confirmed Judges Confirmed Fears - Bumatay

* Trump Judges Halt Covid-19-Related Order that Georgia Count Valid Absentee Ballots Received Within Three Days of November Election: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Grant, Lagoa

* Trump Justice Gorsuch Tries to Disqualify Absentee Ballots Already Cast in South Carolina: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Gorsuch, Quattlebaum, Rushing

* Trump Judges Try to Overturn Longstanding Federal Restrictions on Gun Possession by People Involuntarily Committed to Mental Institutions: Confirmed Judges Confirmed Fears - Bumatay, VanDyke, Bennett, Collins, Bade, Bress, Hunsaker

* Trump Judge Tries to Prevent Court Review of Claims of Systemic Misconduct by Federal Immigration Agency: Confirmed Judges Confirmed Fears - Bade

* Trump Judge Casts Deciding Vote to Block Order on Absentee Voting in Wisconsin: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - St. Eve

* Trump Judge Tries to Allow Continued Construction of Trump Border Wall: Confirmed Judges Confirmed Fears - Collins

* Trump Fourth Circuit Judges Try to Uphold Trump Abortion Gag Rule: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Richardson, Quattlebaum, Rushing

* Trump Judge Casts Deciding Vote to Make it Harder to Vote Absentee in Tennessee Despite Stinging Dissent: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Readler

* Trump Judge Helps Fellow Republicans Limit Access to Drop Boxes in Ohio: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Thapar

* Trump Judge Tries to Grant Immunity to Police Officer Accused of Using Excessive Force against Black Man: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Phipps

* Trump Judge Tries to Overturn Jury Verdict for Father and Grant Immunity to Police Officer Who Shot and Killed his Son: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Bennett

* Trump Justices Try to Shorten Deadlines for Mail-In Ballots in Pennsylvania: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Kavanaugh, Gorsuch

* Trump Judges Uphold Restrictive Requirements that District Court Found Would Leave State Without a Single Licensed Abortion Clinic: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Larsen, Readler

* Trump Judge Tries to Grant Immunity to Police Officer Who Severely Injured Driver in Head-On Collision: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Richardson

* Trump Judge Would Allow Death Row Prisoner To Remain in Solitary Confinement For More Than 33 Years In Violation of His Due Process Rights: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Porter

* Trump Justices Cast Deciding Votes to Ban Curbside Voting for Disabled and Elderly Voters in Alabama: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, Lagoa

* Trump Judge Tries to Uphold Texas Law Requiring an Unnecessary Procedure Before an Abortion: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Willett

* Trump Judges Block Order Calling for Paper Backups of Georgia Voter Records: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Lagoa, Brasher

* Trump Judge Tries to Dismiss Claim of Discrimination Against People Who Require Dialysis: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Murphy

* Trump Justices Cast Deciding Votes to Uphold Blocking of Order to Allow Wisconsin Absentee Ballots Received After Election Day to be Counted: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Kavanaugh, Gorsuch

* Trump Judges Affirm Dismissal of Worker Claim That He Was Fired for Reporting Motor Vehicle Safety Defects: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Kobes, Erickson

* Trump Judge Would Have Struck Down Washington Privacy Law: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Bress

* Trump Justice Gorsuch Tries to Block Counting of North Carolina Absentee Ballots Received More than Three Days After Election Day and Threatens Post-Election Disqualification in Pennsylvania: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Gorsuch

* Trump Judge Casts Deciding Vote to Harm People Using Mail-In Ballots in Missouri: Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears - Grasz