Category: Judicial activism
DC Appeals Court Covers For Hillary’s Crimes
By Tom Fitton, President, Judicial Watch
Today I made the following statement about the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit regarding the request of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s and her former Chief of Staff, Chery Mills to avoid testifying under oath about Clinton’s emails. The court granted Clinton’s request to avoid testimony but denied Mills’.
Today’s extraordinary Appeals Court decision protecting Hillary Clinton from having to obey a court order requiring her to testify about her emails is contrary to longstanding precedent and undermines the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The opinion’s deviation from a long line of earlier mandamus cases creates the appearance of favoritism towards Clinton and undermines the public’s confidence in the fair administration of justice. One need only contrast the DC Circuit’s agony over granting General Flynn mandamus relief with the unprecedented mandamus relief so easily given to Clinton.
As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton hid her government emails, then stole them when she left office. Her lawyers unilaterally determined what would be returned later. The State Department knew this occurred but tried to game a federal trial court into shutting down Judicial Watch’s FOIA lawsuit before Clinton’s scheme became public. In response, the trial court rightly ordered Clinton to testify about the reasons for her actions and their impact on the public’s right to know. That this was too much for the DC Circuit is a miscarriage of justice.
In addition to today’s political decision, the Justice and State Departments’ continuing efforts to avoid getting to the bottom of Clinton’s email misconduct are a scandal. President Trump should hold Secretary Pompeo and Attorney General Barr accountable for their failures of leadership.
If You’re Voting For Joe Biden You’re Voting For …
- A man with a career of corruption behind him.
- A man who has disrespected and abused women.
- Abuse of power: the Obama-Biden Administration illegally used the IRS to deny tax benefits to conservative organizations; they used the Department of Justice to attack law enforcement personnel who were working to prevent illegal aliens from entering the country; they shut down the work of and fired federal agents to monitor and prosecute terrorist cells in the U.S., also protecting organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood which are sworn enemies of the U.S.
- Censorship
- The removal of Second Amendment gun rights and home protection.
- Gender confusion (people who’ve had sex change surgery are less happy than they were before).
- Socialism: The rights of the individual are made secondary to the control of the collective; Vladimir Lenin said “The end game of socialism is communism.”
- Loss of freedom, including free speech and religious freedom.
- Increased taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, which profits from the shedding of human blood.
- Open borders, drug and human smuggling.
- Voter fraud and voting by felons, illegal aliens and unregistered individuals.
- Over regulation of small businesses, the backbone of America.
- Prohibition of school choice.
- A smaller, weaker military.
- Obama II, a country that befriends and funds America’s enemies while turning away from America’s allies.
- Civil unrest in the streets, i.e., Seattle and Portland.
- Higher taxes.
- Harmful laws based on non-existent, politically based global warming.
- Criminalization of the conservative movement.
- Confused men posing as “transgenders” in order to take the positions of females on girls and women’s sports teams.
- Continued attacks on America’s founding ideals.
- Damage to the public education system.
- Expanded government health insurance, which does not guarantee medical care.
- Sanctuary cities.
- Judicial activism by judges who make law from the bench.
- Radical individuals with access to the White House and the highest levels of government who cannot pass background checks.
- Increased likelihood of terrorism on American and foreign soil. Democrats are very weak on terrorism.
- Bigger government making the individual smaller and smaller.
- A greater likelihood that America, “the home of the free and the land of the brave” will become a nation of one-party rule with opposition to Democrat policies outlawed.
- A re-writing of U.S. history and the Constitution.
- Cold-hearted Obama and Biden left four Americans to die in Benghazi.
- Ruthless Obama and Biden are to blame for the death of a U.S. Border Patrolmen who was gunned down by the Mexican drug cartel, armed with guns given by the Obama Administration.
You will also be voting for a man whose health is failing, and who may have to relinquish his presidency to a vice president with even more radical views on important issues.
President Trump’s Unparalleled Achievements
- Almost 4 million jobs created since election.
- More Americans are now employed than ever recorded before in our history.
- We have created more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs since my election.
- Manufacturing jobs growing at the fastest rate in more than THREE DECADES.
- Economic growth last quarter hit 4.2 percent.
- New unemployment claims recently hit a 49-year low.
- Median household income has hit highest level ever recorded.
- African-American unemployment has recently achieved the lowest rate ever recorded.
- Hispanic-American unemployment is at the lowest rate ever recorded.
- Asian-American unemployment recently achieved the lowest rate ever recorded.
- Women’s unemployment recently reached the lowest rate in 65 years.
- Youth unemployment has recently hit the lowest rate in nearly half a century.
- Lowest unemployment rate ever recorded for Americans without a high school diploma.
- Under my Administration, veterans’ unemployment recently reached its lowest rate in nearly 20 years.
- Almost 3.9 million Americans have been lifted off food stamps since the election.
- The Pledge to America’s Workers has resulted in employers committing to train more than 4 million Americans. We are committed to VOCATIONAL education.
- 95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future—the highest ever.
- Retail sales surged last month, up another 6 percent over last year.
- Signed the biggest package of tax cuts and reforms in history. After tax cuts, over $300 billion poured back in to the U.S. in the first quarter alone.
- As a result of our tax bill, small businesses will have the lowest top marginal tax rate in more than 80 years.
- Helped win U.S. bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
- Helped win U.S.-Mexico-Canada’s united bid for 2026 World Cup.
- Opened ANWR and approved Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines.
- Record number of regulations eliminated.
- Enacted regulatory relief for community banks and credit unions.
- Obamacare individual mandate penalty GONE.
- My Administration is providing more affordable healthcare options for Americans through association health plans and short-term duration plans.
- Last month, the FDA approved more affordable generic drugs than ever before in history. And thanks to our efforts, many drug companies are freezing or reversing planned price increases.
- We reformed the Medicare program to stop hospitals from overcharging low-income seniors on their drugs—saving seniors hundreds of millions of dollars this year alone.
- Signed Right-To-Try legislation.
- Secured $6 billion in NEW funding to fight the opioid epidemic.
- We have reduced high-dose opioid prescriptions by 16 percent during my first year in office.
- Signed VA Choice Act and VA Accountability Act, expanded VA telehealth services, walk-in-clinics, and same-day urgent primary and mental health care.
- Increased our coal exports by 60 percent; U.S. oil production recently reached all-time high.
- United States is a net natural gas exporter for the first time since 1957.
- Withdrew the United States from the job-killing Paris Climate Accord.
- Cancelled the illegal, anti-coal, so-called Clean Power Plan.
- Secured record $700 billion in military funding; $716 billion next year.
- NATO allies are spending $69 billion more on defense since 2016.
- Process has begun to make the Space Force the 6th branch of the Armed Forces.
- Confirmed more circuit court judges than any other new administration.
- Confirmed Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
- Withdrew from the horrible, one-sided Iran Deal.
- Moved U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
- Protecting Americans from terrorists with the Travel Ban, upheld by Supreme Court.
- Issued Executive Order to keep open Guantanamo Bay.
- Concluded a historic U.S.-Mexico Trade Deal to replace NAFTA. And negotiations with Canada are underway as we speak.
- Reached a breakthrough agreement with the E.U. to increase U.S. exports.
- Imposed tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum to protect our national security.
- Imposed tariffs on China in response to China’s forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, and their chronically abusive trade practices.
- Net exports are on track to increase by $59 billion this year.
- Improved vetting and screening for refugees, and switched focus to overseas resettlement.
- We have begun BUILDING THE WALL. Republicans want STRONG BORDERS and NO CRIME. Democrats want OPEN BORDERS which equals MASSIVE CRIME, including drug smuggling and human trafficking.
Unprecedented Judicial Nominations
In his first three years in office, Trump had successfully appointed a record 50 judges to the U.S. circuit courts of appeals. For comparison purposes, by the same point in their first terms, President Obama had appointed just 19 and President Bush 26.
With the cooperation of the Republican Senate, Trump also pushed the judges through far faster than his predecessors. After three years in office, Trump had already set a modern record for the appointment of appeals court judges.
Trump’s judicial juggernaut could not have succeeded without the cooperation of a Republican Senate majority. Mitch McConnell not only held open the Scalia seat in Obama’s last year and eliminated the Senate filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, but he also made the confirmation of appellate judges a Senate priority.
By the end of three years in office, Trump and McConnell had confirmed enough federal appeals judges to ensure that Republican presidents had appointed a bare majority of all federal appeals judges in the nation.
The 11th Circuit has 12 judges, seven of whom were appointed by Republican presidents after Lagoa’s confirmation on Wednesday. That count now includes five Trump appointees.
“This success – along with the record number of federal appellate judges President Trump has appointed to date – is a testament to the tangible impact the president has had in reshaping the federal judiciary with constitutionalist judges who are committed to the rule of law,” Carrie Severino, the chief counsel and policy director at the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, said in a tweet about Lagoa’s confirmation.
Trump has now named 10 judges to the 9th Circuit — more than one-third of its active judges — compared with seven appointed by President Obama over eight years.
“Trump has effectively flipped the circuit,” said 9th Circuit Judge Milan D. Smith Jr., an appointee of President George W. Bush.
If Trump were to win reelection, he would probably succeed in flipping most, if not all, appellate courts to conservative control.
Trump’s success with judicial appointments came about through the normal constitutional process. He may have chosen younger, more conservative judges. But here he followed closely the example set by President Reagan.
Reagan and Trump have been the two greatest American presidents in the past century-plus.
#WheresKyrsten on confirming Judge Kavanaugh?
Socialist and U.S. Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema is riding the rails trying to fool the public. She won answer questions on whether or not she would vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the Supreme Court. She’s trying to tiptoe on the fence and fool voters into thinking she’s a reasonable moderate candidate. She is anything but! If voters make the mistake of electing her, she’ll be another Schumer, another Sanders. Radical and far left to the bone; that’s what she is and what she doesn’t want you to know. Beware the bait and switch from this pre-election chameleon!
When Sinema’s been in front of press this week she hasn’t answered the question on whether she’d vote to confirm the judge. When providing statements to the press, she buttons her lips and plays it safe. She’s really playing the voters.
When asked on Tuesday during a Fox 10 Phoenix interview, Republican Martha McSally was asked whether she’d voted to confirm Judge Kavanaugh. She answered the question.
When asked on Wednesday during an interview with the AP, McSally was asked whether she’d vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh. She answered the question.
When asked on Wednesday during an interview with Mac and Gaydos, McSally was asked whether she’d vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh. She answered the question.
When asked on Wednesday during an interview with ABC 15, McSally was asked whether she’d vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh. She answered the question.
Why won’t Kyrsten Sinema be honest with Arizonans and let them know where she stands? Why is she trying to tiptoe through the tulips and deceive the voters? When there’s no way in heck she will ever vote to confirm a constitutionalist judicial candidate? She prefers judicial activists who will circumvent the legislative process and write radical, new laws from the bench — taking away your freedom.
“Kyrsten is running to be the next Senator from Arizona, and confirming judges is one of the greatest responsibilities given to members of the Senate,” said McSally Spokeswoman Torunn Sinclair. “Arizonans deserve to know where Kyrsten Sinema stands on confirming Judge Kavanaugh. Why won’t Kyrsten answer the question? Because she’s a liberal extremist trying to fool Arizona voters into thinking she’s a moderate.”
GOP’s Future Riding on Defeating Obama’s Supreme Court Nomination
I have been a registered Republican since I turned 18, a long, long time ago.
That will change if Senate Republicans do not defeat President Obama’s nomination to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died over the weekend.
If the Republicans do not defeat his nominee, I will be a registered “Independent” before the sun goes down.
President Obama is not willing or capable of nominating anyone remotely close to being a centrist or a strict constructionist. He is a hardcore leftist and will make every effort to strong-arm his kind of radical justice to tip the balance of the Court.
Furthermore, you can place a bet on this: before this year is over (perhaps soon), Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will retire. And then President Obama will nominate a much younger person, who could be a fixture on the court for 30 or 40 years, to replace her. He will not leave it to chance for a potential Republican successor to the White House to nominate someone who isn’t cut out of the same ACLU mold as Justice Ginsburg.
And if you do the right thing, GOP Senators, and defeat Obama’s nomination, then do it again and defeat his subsequent nominee(s).
GOP, you are fighting for your life here. Do the right thing. I doubt that I am the only longtime Republican who will throw in the towel on you if you do not take a strong stand and defeat the wrong kind of nominees to the Supreme Court.
Freedom in America in the Balance
America has lost one of its greatest defenders of freedom. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has tragically died at age 79 — leaving leftists salivating for a complete capture of the Supreme Court.
And if the Supreme Court swings to the Left, your freedom will go with it.
A district judge in Texas said he thinks there will be no action on a nominee to replace Scalia, but that is naïve thinking.
Of course President Obama and his fellow travelers will do everything they can to seize this opportunity to put judicial activists in complete control of America’s judicial system, from the very top on down.
Our only hope is to convince U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham and other Senate Republicans to vote down any nominee Obama presents. These people have let us down before and confirmed two nominees. They should not make it a third.
There is absolutely no doubt that Obama will try to strong-arm a radical nominee through the confirmation process. He will try to intimidate squishy Republicans into doing his bidding. Obama will not nominate anyone close to moderate. He detests the U.S. Constitution, and he sees a clear path to re-writing it now.
We citizens must arise and make our voices heard to every Republican in the U.S. Senate to assure the first nominee is defeated. And then the second, and any others, as well.
Senator Ted Cruz Victory Speech
The Arizona Conservative has previously endorsed Senator Ted Cruz for president.
Gov. Ducey Wants Arizona Out of the Ninth Circuit
By Cathi Herrod, President, Center for Arizona Policy
Today, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey issued a call for the U.S. Congress to establish another federal circuit court of appeals that removes Arizona from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In his call, Gov. Ducey stated, “…due to its voluminous caseload and disproportionate size, the Ninth Circuit has an abysmal turnaround time of over 15 months for an average ruling… Arizonans deserve better than this from the people in power, and that includes a judicial process that is judicious in nature. It’s time that Congress takes overdue action to resolve this crisis in our courts.” Ducey further pointed out that the Ninth Circuit is consistently overturned with a 77 percent reversal rate.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich joined in stating: “The Ninth Circuit is overloaded and it’s bringing on new cases faster than it can resolve old ones. Reform in this area is long overdue.”
Read the full press release here as well as Governor Ducey’s letter to Congress here.
Action Needed:
- Urge your U.S. Senator and Congressman to make this much needed change!
- Forward this email to a friend! It is crucial that Arizona’s Congressional Delegation hear from the citizens in their state.
- Thank Governor Ducey! Send an email to the Governor to thank him for seeking this much needed change in our judicial process.
- Pray! Pray that Arizona’s U.S. Senators and Representatives will stand boldly and seek a judicious legal process for the citizens they represent.
The Arizona Conservative says: Bravo to the governor’s efforts! And to CAP for supporting this measure. They took the high road and didn’t say this … but we will say it: in 99.9 percent of the social issues cases going up to the Ninth Circuit, this controversial court will rule against conservatives. The deck is stacked in San Francisco, in favor of judicial activism. And it isn’t fair.