Conservatives accuse Obama of packing key court to 'rubber stamp' agenda

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

Forget the debt drama. The real showdown in Washington is over President Obama's alleged push to stack the bench on a key D.C. court -- which Republicans say could be used to "rubber stamp" his agenda long after he leaves office.

 

At issue is the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, just down the street from its better-known Supreme Court cousin. The court is considered the second-most powerful in the land -- right behind the Supreme Court -- because it has final say on most federal regulations. Since regulations are drafted and issued in D.C., they end up before the court once they're challenged.

 

“The D.C. circuit is the only thing standing between America and the regulatory behemoth the president is trying to set in motion,” Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director at the Judicial Crisis Network, told FoxNews.com. She pointed to looming rules pertaining to everything from ObamaCare to environmental regulation. If they're challenged years down the road, the president will want his allies on the D.C. bench.

 

Of the 11 seats on the D.C. Court of Appeals, three are now open.

 

In June, Obama set the stage for a fierce partisan fight when he announced the nominations of attorney Patricia Ann Millett, law professor Cornelia “Nina” Pillard and D.C. District Court Judge Robert Wilkins to the bench.

 

Two-thirds of the current sitting judges were appointed by Republican presidents. The actual political makeup, though, is split -- four Democrats and four Republicans.

 

Some say that in order to make sure his regulatory legacy lives on, Obama must get the full Senate to green light all three of his judicial picks. Severino, who clerked at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, accused the Obama administration of trying to “stretch the limits of the regulatory regime.”

 

Plus there’s another reason why judicial watchers keep their eye on the D.C. court -- it looks great on the resume of anyone seeking a Supreme Court position.

 

“It’s a political football because it’s seen as the preliminary battle to being on the Supreme Court,” Trey Childress, associate professor at Pepperdine University School of Law, said. “Unless you’ve done something terribly wrong, the court is widely seen as a stepping stone to the Supreme Court.”

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Friends in low places...