Stephen Reinhardt, a United States Court of Appeals judge for the Ninth Circuit, has just died. He was the current longest-serving federal appeals court judge.
Last May The Washington Post reported “few remarks have been quite as scathing as those written Monday by a federal judge who made no effort to disguise his personal contempt for Trump’s deportation policies even as he conceded that in the case before him he was powerless to intervene.”
“Stephen Reinhardt, once referred to as ‘the reigning liberal lion’ of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, wrote that a Trump administration order to deport a Mexican man was ‘inhumane’ and ‘contrary to the values of the country and its legal system.'”
President Donald Trump will now have the opportunity to replace him.
Trump has made clear he has a strong hatred for the 9th Circuit, which covers nine states, including California, Hawaii, Alaska, Arizona, and Washington, and two U.S. territories. The court has the reputation of being liberal.
Thanks to lies from the far right, which Trump has spread, the court has a reputation – however false – of having most of its decisions overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
For example, here Trump falsely claims 80 percent of the 9th Circuit’s cases were overturned:
Trump has threatened to break up the 9th Circuit.
Judge Reinhardt’s passing gives Trump the opportunity to place a conservative on the court. There were already seven vacancies on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is allocated to have 29. Were Trump to fill all eight, he could dramatically change its disposition.
Reinhardt turned 87 on Tuesday.