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Judicial Nominations

Demand Justice Targets Democrats Over Judicial Nominees

The progressive advocacy group thinks voting for any Trump judicial nominees is inexcusable.

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The New York Times reports that Demand Justice, a progressive activist group that has previously called for Democrats to expand the size of the Supreme Court, will be running ads against Democratic Senators who have voted in favor of some Trump judicial nominees.

The ads, part of an initial $1 million campaign which will begin to air on television and appear online on Wednesday, make the case that none of Mr. Trump's judicial appointments deserve bipartisan support because they are putting loyalty to the president above the Constitution.

The evidence that Demand Justice cites for that claim is that none of Mr. Trump's appointments to lifetime court seats have said in written answers to the Senate that Mr. Trump lost the 2020 election or that the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, amounted to an insurrection.

The three senators being targeted with the initial ad campaign are John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Angus King of Maine, who is an independent but caucuses with Democrats. Notably, none of three are up for re-election in 2026. All are moderates and among the group who voted to end the government shutdown last month. . . .

Mr. Fetterman has voted to confirm one judge, Ms. Hassan has voted for three and Mr. King has voted for four, the group said.

According to the story, another progressive advocacy group (MoveOn) will also begin pressing Senate Democrats to vote against all of President Trump's judicial nominees.

The apparent aim of these campaigns is not to prevent the confirmation of any judges (as judicial nominees can be--and largely have been--confirmed on party-line votes), nor is it to punish Democratic Senators facing re-election. It is apparently designed merely to ensure that Democrats adopt party-line opposition to Trump's nominees.