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Donald Trump supporters released a new chant at a campaign rally in North Carolina over the weekend.
In 2016, it was, “Lock her up! Lock her up! “
In 2020, it is “Fill that seat! Fill that seat!“
The “seat,” of course, refers to the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death Friday of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the liberal justice whose replacement by a conservative by Trump could remake American life under the law for generations.
For the aggressively casual air of a typical Trump event, a supreme court-themed chant may not seem like an obvious rallying cry that shakes the crowd. But Trump’s success in appointing conservative judges is not just a political winner for Trump – it amounts to a true and awe-inspiring legacy.
“I’m going to have up to 280 judges very soon,” Trump boasted to journalist Bob Woodward in remarks Woodward captured on tape and released Sunday. “Nobody has ever had that. Two hundred eighty. You know? No one has ever had that. “
Trump’s number was typically inflated: the number of judges he has placed in the benches of the district and circuit courts and the supreme court stands at 214 (out of 865 total); a Ginsburg replacement would make 215.
But Trump was absolutely right that “no one has ever had that” so many appointments to the bank so quickly, meaning that no president has done more to shape the future of American life under the law on issues from discrimination claims to equal marriage and gun control.
Trump is trying to boost Republican turnout in the election by communicating that the fate of the landmark Roe v Wade supreme court ruling protecting abortion rights is at stake, said Nan Aron, president of the progressive advocacy group Alliance for Justice. .
“Republicans have long used the judiciary as a reliable tool to galvanize their base before the election,” Aron said. “It seems to me that at this moment it is a desperate measure on the part of this administration, to appeal to their voters to go to the polls.”
Trump has been so successful in securing the support of his conservative base, and so much in appointing judges, however, that he may run the risk of finding the political utility of the judges issue diminished in the next election.
Most of the people who could support Trump already do so, polls indicate, and he has already been so forceful in restructuring the judiciary that some voters might see his job here as done.
The Supreme Court was deemed a “very important” issue with 70% of Trump’s voters in 2016, according to the Pew Research survey; four years and two, maybe three supreme court appointments later, that number has dropped to 61%.
Meanwhile, there are signs that the Trump court takeover has powerfully motivated Democrats, especially with Ginsburg’s seat up for grabs. Supporters have donated about $ 100 million to Democratic Senate candidates since Ginsburg’s death, New York magazine reported. The proportion of Democratic voters who rate the Supreme Court as a “very important” issue has grown from 62% in 2016 to 66% this year, according to Pew.
“Progressives are more excited today than ever,” Aron said. “I think we will see thousands, millions of Americans prioritizing the courts primarily out of fear that everything they hold dear: workers’ rights, consumer protection, civil and women’s rights, and most importantly, healthcare , is threatened ”.
Trump was able to accomplish the feat of hundreds of judges by handing over the process almost entirely to conservative legal activists and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who created many of the vacancies in the first place by blocking those appointed by Barack Obama.
Trump told Woodward that those vacancies were “gold nuggets” and that it is pretty clear what Trump bought with them: the loyal support of conservative evangelical Christian and Republican Christian voters for whom the abortion and immigration restrictions, the removal of environmental regulations and the ability to restrict access. voting are the main political objectives.
Eight out of 10 white evangelical Protestant registered voters would vote for Trump or be inclined to vote for him in November, according to a July poll by Pew Research. Those voters reliably cite Trump’s performance before judges as the factor that caused them to set aside any personal reservations they might have about the president.
Trump has worked tirelessly to woo his base. And as Election Day approaches, he has shared his vision of a highlight in his judicial project: a third Supreme Court judge in just four years.
In his conversation with Woodward, Trump credited McConnell for driving the effort.
“Do you know what the greatest thing about Mitch in the whole world is? His judges, ”Trump told Woodward. “He will absolutely ask me, please let the judge approve instead of 10 ambassadors.”
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