# Any of Trump's Judicial Nominees 'Liberal'?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-of-trumps-judicial-nominees-liberal/825437
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [December 2, 2018, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-of-trumps-judicial-nominees-liberal/825437 "2018-12-02T08:29:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2018, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-of-trumps-judicial-nominees-liberal/825437/1 "2018-12-02T08:29:08Z")
Understanding that “liberal” and “conservative” are relative terms, when it comes to judges nowadays. Harry Blackmun was a Republican, and joined what was then considered the conservative bloc of the court, when he was appointed. He himself even famously said, he didn’t change, the court changed around him.
Anyways, in former days, it was thought a good president should appoint both liberals and conservatives to the courts. It was meant to keep a balance. Nixon apparently did it. So did Ford. Even Reagan and Bush 1 did it for a while.
Even Clinton did it. (I mentioned that on a former post and I was rather rudely contradicted. But I did hear on a recent morning news program actually he did [so sorry, no cites]. How ironic if one of my detractors saw the same news cast.)
Anyways, it is or was what a good president was supposed to do. So my question: Have _ **any** _ of President Trump’s appointments to the court been liberal?
I know about 15 or 20 years ago, I asked the same question about Bush 2. And someone said, oddly enough, that one of them was. Just one. Has Mr. Trump, then, done even _one_?
Thank you all in advance for your thoughtful and civil replies:).
:):)🙂
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### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2018, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-of-trumps-judicial-nominees-liberal/825437/2 "2018-12-02T12:27:00Z")
the mantra of the GOP now is “no more Souters” for the SC. Bush Sr. appointed him and he turned out to join the liberal wing of the court. They vet the picks much more now to make sure they will toe the GOP line.
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### Author:  [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2018, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-of-trumps-judicial-nominees-liberal/825437/3 "2018-12-02T13:12:22Z")
I read on a political blog that every judicial appointment is vetted down to their kindergarten art projects these days. Trump isn’t a lawyer nor does he seem to have an intellectual curiosity into judicial rulings.
The only saving grace is that John Roberts has an interest in history and wants to preserve his legacy. He’s well aware how a mention of the Taney court is meant with disdain. I think that’s the reason he voted to uphold the ACA.
To answer the question, I’m not aware of anyone that Trump has appointed that hasn’t met the strict standards of the right wing interest. Evangelicals are well aware of the power of the judicial branch and that’s why they always vote Republican.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2018, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-of-trumps-judicial-nominees-liberal/825437/4 "2018-12-02T13:14:22Z")
Yes, but not all judges are on the Supreme Court. There are many more on the various lower courts.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2018, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-of-trumps-judicial-nominees-liberal/825437/5 "2018-12-02T15:51:13Z")
Meet the [Federalist Society](https://www.newstatesman.com/world/north-america/2018/09/who-are-federalist-society-inside-right-wing-group-picking-trump-s).
> [@](#):
>
> Trump has effectively outsourced the task of filling these seats to the Federalist Society, and in particular to its executive vice-president, an ultra-conservative, devout Catholic named Leonard Leo, who has helped transform the lawyers network into, as the New Yorker describes it, a “conservative pipeline to the Supreme Court”. …
>
> At the Trump administration’s request, Leo drew up a list of 25 potential Supreme Court nominees for the president’s consideration, which included Kavanaugh. At the same time, the influence exerted by the Senate on the nomination process has decreased.
>
> “It used to be that Republican Senators played a much more important role in judicial selection than they do now, so ordinary party patronage mechanisms used to be more important. But I think this ideological network that we associated with the Federalist Society has clawed away more and more power from that senatorial role over time,” says Teles. “And it’s clearly the case that Trump… has been willing to completely subcontract this over to these conservative judicial networks.”
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### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2018, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-of-trumps-judicial-nominees-liberal/825437/6 "2018-12-02T17:23:07Z")
a developer like Trump is very much used to subcontracts - that’s the way all buildings are built. You have electrical, plumbing, mechanical, etc.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2018, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-of-trumps-judicial-nominees-liberal/825437/7 "2018-12-05T16:25:47Z")
FWIW, a local state judge was nominated to the U.S. district court here by Trump. She’s a Republican, is well-regarded generally, and doesn’t at all have a reputation as a firebreathing conservative zealot.