Picking Bad Judges Backfires On Trump--and On America
On This Day In 2019
In one of Trump’s better moves, he asked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to ban “bump stocks,” after they had been used in yet another American massacre. (Bump stocks are add-on devices which help turn regular rifles into semi-automatics).
But as often happened in the Trump Administration, he didn’t bother implementing his new policy through the correct channels. By simply ordering ATF to do it, rather than using proper legislation, he left himself open to having his order struck down. Sure enough, OTDI 2019, pro-gun groups filed suit against his plan.
In 2023, two separate Appeals courts panels ruled that Trump didn’t have the authority to issue that proclamation without the accompanying legislation. So they threw out the ban on bump stocks and let them become legal on the streets again.
Those two panels which ruled in favor of gun makers had a total of 19 judges. Eight of them had been appointed by Trump, and six by other GOP presidents. Those die-hards stuck with the “conservative” option even though Trump himself was surprisingly “liberal” in this one situation.
Lesson: it really does matter who’s president, because they get to pick the judges.
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