Trump rushes to fill judicial seats before Democrats take over

With just 51 days until Democrats take. control of the Senate, Republicans are trying to make the most. of their last weeks in power. Aiming to muscle through about. two dozen Trump backed judges. and they're already well on their way. MSNOW has learned they are moving so fast. that Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck. Grassley tentatively scheduled a hearing. for eight nominees on Wednesday, putting it on the calendar before some of them had. even been. formally nominated by the president. One nominee, a 37-year old Ohio native. got.

tapped to serve in Texas, where he does not live. But I guess you'll get to know a place. pretty well once you've got a lifetime. appointment to serve there. MSNOW senior legal reporter Lisa Rubin, who wrote that piece, joins us now. Tamadayo and Dan are back with us. What is happening here? Well, Alicia, look, some of this is normal that. in the lame duck session, a president, particularly when Congress is changing. THEY ARE GOING TO GET THEIR PEOPLE CONFIRMED. WHAT IS UNUSUAL HERE IS THAT SOME.

OF THESE PEOPLE WERE NOT. EVEN NOMINATED AND STILL HAVE. NOT BEEN FORMALLY NOMINATED. at least in terms of their papers. being publicly available, since after the election. And the piece that I wrote with Paula Reid, we talk about a couple of those people. One of them. is the person you just mentioned, Elliot Geiser, who's the current head of the Justice. Department's Office of Legal Counsel. That's the position that advises. the executive branch, and in that capacity, he's written a series. of pretty controversial opinions, some of which aren't even public. For example, authorizing the boat strikes.

IT'S NOT A LITTLE BIT OF PEOPLE WHO ARE TAKING A. VERY. AGGRESSIVE POSITION ON WHAT IT. MEANS TO HAVE EXECUTIVE. PRIVILEGE WITH PEOPLE WHO DON'T. EVEN WORK INSIDE THE GOVERNMENT. MR. GEISER, HOWEVER, HAS HE HAS BEEN NOMINATED. AS YOU. NOTED TO A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT. SEAT IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT. OF TEXAS IN DALLAS WHERE HE HAS. NEVER LIVED. A JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SOURCE TELLS US. THAT HIS WIFE IS FROM THE AREA. AND THEREFORE They have always. wanted to live there, to be closer to her family. There are other judicial nominees here that are. sort of in similar positions.

My favorite is a guy named James Sullivan. who is a Texas Supreme Court justice. COMPANY FOR JUSTICE CURRENTLY. MR. SULVAN RAN FOR ELECTION. HE LOST HIS SEAT ON NOVEMBER 3rd. GUESS WHEN THE COMMITTEE RECEIVED HIS. I DON'T THINK IT'S GOING TO MAKE IT SEEM AS IF HE WAS. HEDGING. HIS BETS AT THE VERY LEAST OR. MAYBE EVEN MORE ANTICIPATED. THAT HE WOULD LOSE. SO THE RUSH THAT WE SEE RIGHT. THE PRESIDENT IS A RUSH TO NOMINATE PEOPLE WHO WEREN'T. EVEN. NOMINATED BY THE PRESIDENT BEFORE.

ELECTION DAY AND THEN TO GET. THEM CONFIRMED IN WHAT YOU MENTIONED WITH THE 51 DAYS. THAT. ARE REMAINING. TALK TO ME ABOUT WHAT IS AT STAKE HERE. YOU RUSH THESE FOLKS THROUGH. SO, AS YOU NOTED, THIS IS A LIFETIME. APPOINTMENT, RIGHT? AND I THINK FOLKS AT HOME MAY BE WONDERING, LIKE, WHY DOES IT MATTER? THE SUPREME COURT ONLY HEARS, WHAT, 80 CASES A YEAR. THE VAST MAJORITY OF YOUR FEDERAL OR EVEN. THE FEDERAL LIGHTS HAVE BEEN DECIDED BY. THESE DISTRICT JUDGES. AND IF YOU HAVE A WORLD IN WHICH. THEY'RE NOT BEING VETTED, MEANING THAT THE LEGAL COMMUNITY, CONGRESS ARE ALL LOOKING AT THE CREDENTIALS,

LOOKING AT at their experience, looking at how they would approach the law, then we don't know who. we're putting on the bench. But what we do know is that yet the Trump. administration has been focused on loyalists, people who are more committed to protecting him. and his objective than they are to perhaps. the rule of law at times. And that puts all of us in danger. One example of how much federal judges matter, look at Judge Cannon in Florida, right? That judge singrally alone helped slow down. and basically obstruct DEMOCRATS. IT'S NOT A LITTLE BIT OF THE DOCUMENTS CASE. AGAINST. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND EFFECTIVELY.

MADE IT SO THAT HE DID NOT FACE. THE MUSIC ON THOSE CHARGES. ONE SINGLE. AND WE HAVE FOLKS WHO ARE YOUNG, INEXPERIENCED AND NOT VETTED AND LOYAL TO TRUMP. THAT PUTS ALL OF US IN A DANGER IN THE LONG TERM, POTENTIALLY FOR DECADES IN THE FUTURE. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO I DON'T WANT TO GO WRONG. I ASKED SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE MEMBER. CONNECTICUT DEMOCRAT RICHARD BLUMENTHAL. YESTERDAY ABOUT THIS PUSH BY REPUBLICANS. TAKE A LISTEN TO WHAT HE HAD TO. SAY. WE'RE GOING TO RESIST at every turn the. circumvention.

and avoidance of normal scrutiny. we will use every tool available even. though we're in the minority. those tools are limited to stop. the appointment DEPARTMENT OF. JUDGES WHO ARE UNQUALIFIED AND WHO ARE IDEALOGUE. DAN, REALISTICALLY, WHAT CONDEMNS DO HERE? WELL, THEY HAVE TO FIGHT as hard as they can, Alicia, but he's right. They do have fewer tools than they will have. obviously on January 3rd. The calendar though is going to be a bit crowded. You know, there's the push to push. judges into place,

hearing happening so quickly. without folks even being nominated. in that instance. But at the same time, Thune and others in the. Senate. are also working on this massive. permitting reform bill which is moving. through very quickly with lots. of complicated amendments to that. And at some point, they're going to have to. make some decisions. about what is on the calendar. and what they prioritize as they go forward. I have a fear, however, that they're going to. prioritize. the judges because at the end of the day, even when Republicans break from Trump. Look at Tom Tillis, you know,

in the earlier part of the hour, Tillis was very strong on Trump corruption. He's been strong and pushing back. on Trump consistently on policy. But this week in an interview, he said I would absolutely work. with Donald Trump on a new Supreme Court. nominee. When it comes to judges, that binds Republicans. and they can see past any hypocrisy, whether it's what they did with Merrick Garland, whether it's what they did with the appointment. after Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. They see no problem with pushing advantage to. get these folks in place.

Dems have to be loud, they have to be strong, but there is less we can do until we take back. control of the Senate on January. I WANT TO PLAY FOR ALL OF YOU WHAT TRUMP SAID. ABOUT HIS JUDICIAL NOMINEES. THIS IS BACK IN 2020, IT'S AN INTERVIEW WITH BOB. WOODWARD. YOU HAVE THE JUDGES, A LOT They go on senior. leave. and we convinced many of them to go. on senior leave and more importantly, Obama gave us 142 judges when I came here. Yeah. Never happened.

You never had one. If you were a president, you would never have any. federal. You know, they're like golden nuggets, right? Now get interesting turn of phrase there, but it speaks to the point. that you were making about the fact. that it's not just that this is important. It's about the fact that Donald Trump may be. out of office in two years, but those young judges with lifetime appointments, that becomes one of the many long tails. of the Trump administration and Trumpism. Yeah, it's going to to be decades and decades. and decades. And I think there will be some unwinding of that. I mean, I think when you look at the midterms,

if the democratic progress there holds, then you have a Senate that potentially. in the future will be, you know, molding these future nominees. but yeah these folks are going to be around. for a long time and when you have. again folks who are not vetted. at least we don't have any idea where. they're going. When you have folks who have been on at 50, 60 years old yet they're quite older. but we have a sense of.

might be on there for another 40 years, that's a lot bigger bet that you have. on the American people. Tamadayo, Dan, Lisa thank you all so much. for being.