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US Senate confirms 200th Trump judge
WASHINGTON, June 25, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – US senators on Wednesday confirmed the 200th judge chosen by Donald Trump, a symbolic milestone which underscores how profoundly the president has reshaped the federal justice system since his election.
The appointment of Cory Wilson, 49, to an appeals court in New Orleans was voted in by 52 senators out of 100, all of them Republicans.
Democrats had strongly opposed the appointment of Wilson, a former Mississippi state lawmaker, citing concerns about his record on voting rights.
Republicans hold the majority in the Senate, and leader Mitch McConnell has used the opportunity to muscle through Trump’s picks, chosen both for their conservative record as well as their youth, ensuring they will stay on the bench for years to come.
“With today’s confirmation, not a single circuit court vacancy exists anywhere in the nation for the first time in at least 40 years,” McConnell tweeted.
“The hard work will pay dividends for generations,” tweeted his colleague Lindsey Graham, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The majority of the judges appointed by Trump are white and male. Two of the appointees were to the Supreme Court, where Trump had promised during his 2016 campaign to install justices who were anti-abortion and anti-gun control.
Now under pressure as he faces re-election, the president regularly touts this record, which was supposed to keep the religious right on his side.
But last week the Court twice dealt defeats on issues dear to Trump’s supporters: it expanded equal protection rights to gay and transgender people, and sustained protections for certain undocumented immigrants that Trump had sought to end.
BSS/AFP/MMA/1032HRS