Naked Judicial Aggression

The Ninth Circuit and Your Crazy Uncle

Growing up we had crazy Uncle Divearl. Straight out of Arkansas Divearl had a theory about everything. According to Divearl, there was no moon landing; it was all faked in Hollywood. President Kennedy was assassinated by the CIA; they were looking to lead a coup. His 3 pack a day smoking habit was not harming his lungs. And the Catholics were in league with the Jews.

Uncle Divearl would spout his opinions all the time, irrespective of who might be listening, and I made the mistake of sharing these wise observations with my Third Grade class once, which earned me a day out of school (I had no idea, really, who these Jews were).

So, with experience being a dear educator, I learned not to repeat anything this crazy old uncle said, and never to put much stock in it. The truth would often come out over time, and Divearl was known to say later that he had never said that Kennedy was killed by the CIA, that it was, in fact the NSA that was at fault. He relied on the tireless truthful reporting of the National Perspirer to provide him with this in-depth analysis of the news.

Diveral was crazy. But in conversations I’ve learned that nearly everyone has a crazy uncle, cousin, or other relative who spouts nonsequiturs on a regular basis as though they were fact, and whose analysis on the facts in the news is almost always wrong.

If you have a relative like this, first my condolences. Now, I want you to realize that in terms of the United States Circuit Courts of Appeal, the crazy Uncle Divearl of the bunch is the Ninth Circuit. The Ninth Circuit is the most reversed circuit in the country, and the reason why should be easy to see.

How it Got That Way

The Ninth Circuit covers California, Oregon and Washington State. California has 2 Democratic senators. So does Oregon and Washington. Senators nominate candidates for judicial office. Thus even though George Bush may have technically appointed judges during his tenure in the White House, Democrats filled the seats in their state with like-minded judges. Rarely, if ever, are these judges conservative. They are people who march in lockstep with their senators and apply the same biases that their sponsors suggest. They know how they got the seat, and it has nothing to do with the President.

The same thing is true for the district court judges (or as President Trump suggested, these “so called judges”). They are appointed by Democrats, crammed through the Senate confirmation process, and they owe their office to the Senators that appointed them. These are not “Bush appointees” in the serious use of the word, because they’re really just people that the Democrats wanted, and that Bush appointed because the Courts needed judges.

So, it makes perfect sense that when the Ninth Circuit Motion Panel heard oral argument on the Trump Immigration Pause Executive Order, that it echoed the sentiments of the senators who appointed these judges and resulted in a temporary restraining order.

The district court order is hideous. It contains next to no law. It fails to analyze the statute. It cites to no evidence that supports its holding, and it is naked judicial aggression against the Constitution and the doctrine of separation of powers.  The Department of Justice brief sliced and diced the arguments of the state actors in this melodrama, and Judge Robart’s ruling is as close to treasonous as this author has ever seen. Because we obey the rule of law in this country, the president has allowed the order to be enforced, but the time is coming when that order will cost American lives.

When it does, the judges need to be accountable. The same outcry that screamed for justice after George Bush let 9/11 happen after being warned about Bin Laden needs to be vented on these judges who, being warned that we are admitting terrorists, imposed their policy choices instead of upholding the rule of law.

When the history of this time is written, what will be remembered is that a patriotic president tried to protect and defend the American people, and some arrogant judicial activists substituted their judgment for his.

The time is coming folks. Do not let the country forget when it does.