A Donald Trump appointee to the federal bench, who was too extreme even for Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), is living up to the low expectations his critics had for him as he has become the go-to guy for far-right figures pushing culture war issues.
According to a report from the Guardian's Ed Pilkington, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk has already done damage to civil liberties during his four years on the bench in Amarillo, Texas, and is poised and likely to make a devastating ruling that could further limit a woman's right to control her own health by imposing "a nationwide injunction that would in effect ban the abortion pill by nullifying the FDA’s medical approval of one of its key elements, mifepristone."
As Pilkington wrote, conservatives knew what they were getting when the former president nominated the now 46-year-old Kacsmaryk to a lifetime appointment on the bench.
"Every Democratic senator opposed his confirmation in 2019, with Chuck Schumer, the then minority leader, calling him 'narrow-minded' and 'bigoted,'" with Collins complaining about his "... 'extreme statements' on reproductive rights that indicated "an inability to respect precedent and to apply the law fairly and impartially."
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As the Guardian report notes, Kacsmaryk, was "plucked" by Trump from the First Liberty Institute, a Christian law firm based in Plano, where he worked as deputy general counsel opposing the separation of church and state and pushing anti-LGBTQ legal theories.
As Pilkington wrote, Kacsmaryk is now being flooded with cases from extremists who have been judge-shopping.
After noting, "Kacsmaryk has amassed an extraordinary litany of contentious rulings in less than four years," Pilkington asked Stephen Vladeck, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Texas at Austin about the judge's tenure.
“It’s no coincidence that Judge Kacsmaryk has on his docket a higher concentration of hot-button divisive social policy cases than any other judge in the country – people are seeking him out," the professor explained and bolstered his argument by pointing out that "that conservative plaintiffs deciding where to lodge high-profile cases have 94 federal district courts to choose from. Yet so often they select Amarillo, Texas."
Add to that, should Kacsmaryk's rulings be appealed, there is little chance they will be overturned at the next level.
"Anyone going judge shopping in Amarillo knows exactly what they are going to get: a Trump-appointed federal judge unafraid to sweep legal precedent aside and replace it with ideological conservative positions," the report states before adding, "what happens to Kacsmaryk’s cases if they are appealed, as is almost certainly the case given their contentious nature. Texas is covered by the fifth circuit court of appeals, a panel composed of 16 active judges, 12 of whom were appointed by Republicans."
Added Vladeck, "Part of what makes Kacsmaryk especially attractive to conservative litigants is not just his actions as a trial judge, but also that his cases will end up in the fifth circuit which is by far the most conservative in the country.”
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