A Bold Idea for Breaching the Conservative Fortress in the Judiciary

Beyond Politics

Republicans have been flat-out winning the battle for the judiciary -- the “shadow war” in the fight for control of America’s government. We all know about the Supreme Court, but underneath the Supreme Court there are 13 courts of appeals, and below them 94 district courts. Most of the time, it is those lower courts that have the final word on questions of federal law. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor once said they are “where policy is made.” Donald Trump substantially shifted the calculus of those courts. By the time he left office, he had appointed about one quarter of the total judges, and at ultra-important appellate level, Trump had shifted Republican-appointed judges from holding 40% of the seats to an outright majority at 54%. Trump also flipped 3 of those 13 courts to Republican-appointed majorities, meaning that 7 of the 13 Courts of Appeals are now controlled by jurists picked by Republicans.

Our guest today, calls this a "conservative fortress" in the federal judiciary. But he’s devised a smart, constitutional method for scaling that fortress…and it’s not court packing or term limits, or probably anything you’ve heard before. Chris Sprigman is the Murray and Kathleen Bring Professor of Law at the NYU School of Law, the author of numerous articles in law reviews and other scholarly publications, and he’s here to tell us all about it.