Jim Rosica
Donald Trump‘s nominations for judgeships are ensuring a federal bench that looks like the president, according to Integrity Florida: Older, white and male.
The Tallahassee-based ethics-in-government watchdog’s latest report, released Thursday, also questions Trump’s assertion that he would prioritize “qualifications” over diversity. The group says that in fact the 72-year-old president is focusing on neither.
“Trump has already nominated more federal judicial nominees than three of his four predecessors did in their entire first two years,” the report says.
At the same time, “Trump has put forth a lower percentage of ‘well qualified’ nominees (as defined by the American Bar Association) than each of his four predecessors,” it said.
The report, “Courts at the Crossroads” (posted below), examines how the “quality and diversity of judicial nominations has changed under the Trump administration, and what those changes mean for the country and for Floridians who rely on the courts for the fair administration of justice in criminal and civil cases,” a press release said.
Key findings include:
— Ninety-one percent of President Trump’s nominees for federal judgeships have been white, compared to 57 percent of President Obama’s nominees and 80 percent of President George W. Bush’s nominees.
— Only 1 percent of Trump’s nominees for federal judgeships have been African American and only 4 percent have been Hispanic.
— President Trump’s nominees for federal judges have been 77 percent male. In contrast, President Obama’s nominees were 55 percent male and President George W. Bush’s nominees were 80 percent male.
