200th Trump Judge, Cory Wilson, Is 200 Too Many

WASHINGTON, DC, June 24, 2020 – Today Senate Republicans confirmed Cory Wilson to a lifetime seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, making him the 200th Trump appointee. Out of the 870 authorized Article III judgeships, Trump appointees now account for nearly a quarter of all federal judges, including two Supreme Court justices.

Wilson will become the 12th Republican-appointed judge on a 17-member court — the sixth Trump has appointed. He has described the Affordable Care Act as “perverse” and “illegitimate,” and he’ll be sitting on the very appeals court that kept alive a challenge to the law. Wilson also strongly supports voter suppression efforts, calling claims that they will make it harder for African Americans to vote “poppycock.” In fact, he has described civil rights organizations — those who currently advocating for racial justice in our streets — as “rent-a-mobs.” Wilson will get to weigh in on issues involving voting rights at a time when we’ve seen horrific election processes in Wisconsin, Georgia, and this week Kentucky. Combined with his positions opposing LGBTQ equality, reproductive freedom, and gun safety measures, Wilson’s record is indicative of the extremely partisan judges Mitch McConnell has helped Trump stack the bench with.

Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron released the following statement:

“Cory Wilson is only the latest in a litany of Trump judges ready to take health care away from millions and otherwise enact the Republican agenda through the courts. It may be fun to gawk at the president’s declining popularity even among his base, but the truth is that with 200 of his lifetime appointments on the federal bench, we will be enduring the Trump legacy for decades to come. Senate Republicans refused to do their job and consider President Obama’s appointees, then immediately dismantled the barriers they’d used so that Trump’s young appointees with extreme records could fly onto the bench.

Cory Wilson, like so many of Trump’s other appointees, will turn the clock back and access to health care, voting rights, and so many other protections we hold dear. Our nation’s progress is fragile, and Trump’s judges will be trying to tear it away from us for the rest of their lives.”

Click here to read Alliance for Justice’s report on Trump’s Attacks on Our Justice System.