The Enlightenment

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Welcome to The Judiciary at Noon! Take a break from work to get an update on the oft-neglected third branch of the United States government, the judicial branch.

The series covers any updates to the federal judiciary, including any new judges confirmed, any deaths, resignations, or retirements from the courts, and any new vacancies that have occurred. It includes political analysis and fun information about the United States judiciary at the very end. All information spans the previous week.

Confirmations

• Mar. 22: Ernesto “Ernest” Gonzalez was appointed to the Western District of Texas, covering a large geographic area that includes cities like El Paso and San Antonio.
• Mar. 22: Leon Schydlower was appointed to the Western District of Texas.

Vacancies

No new vacancies occurred for the week of March 22 to 28, 2024. 74 vacancies remain on the federal judiciary, down from 76 a week ago.

Retirements, Deaths, and Resignations

No retirements, deaths, or resignations occurred on the federal judiciary for the week of March 22 to 28, 2024.

Analysis

As I predicted in my previous Judiciary at Noon entry, Senate Democrats rounded off last week with two additional appointments, both to the Western District of Texas.

These two appointments are rapidly turning the Western District into a more liberal court. Republican-appointed judges outnumbered Democrat-appointed judges 2 to 1; with Gonzalez’ and Schydlower’s appointments, the balance is now 10 – 7, Republican to Democrat judges.

Since there are still two other vacancies remaining on the court, that balance could become 10 – 9. Considering two Clinton judges are eligible for senior status on the court (a form of semi-retirement that opens a vacancy), the court could plausibly flip 11 – 10 Democratic by the end of Joe Biden’s first term.

That would be a huge blow to the conservative legal movement. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and the district courts of Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana that it hears cases from are among the most conservative courts in the country.

The 5th Circuit is now so conservative that it is regularly used by conservative activists as a direct pipeline to the Supreme Court. Flipping Western Texas liberal would strike a huge blow to the conservative legal machine.

Moving on from the Western District of Texas, the Senate is in recess and will not convene until April 8th, at which point they will resume consideration of a judge to the District of Nebraska.

That means Democrats rounded out March with 9 confirmed judges. That’s a good number, and a brisk pace. It appears that Democrats plan to resume this brisk pace come April 8th.

BONUS: Update to the Bonus Section

Astute observers may have noticed last week did not have a “Bonus” section. This is because I feel that the Bonus Section is thematically and tonally different from the rest of a typical Judiciary at Noon submission.

Furthermore, research for the Bonus section takes a surprisingly long amount of time, especially considering that I have covered many go-to topics already, which takes time away from researching the news aspect of these entries.

So, for now, I am removing the Bonus section. Please let me know in the comments if you would like to see the Bonus section brought back or kept removed!

SIGN-OFF

That’s it for this week’s The Judiciary at Noon. This has been Anthony Myrlados. I’ll see you next noon and until then I wish you all an enjoyable weekend.