There’s been a new development in the ongoing saga of Donald Trump’s feud with the courts. During an interview with the Washington Examiner, Trump said that he would “absolutely” consider breaking up the 9th circuit.
‘There are many people that want to break up the 9th Circuit. It’s outrageous. Everybody immediately runs to the 9th Circuit. And we have a big country. We have lots of other locations. But they immediately run to the 9th Circuit. Because they know that’s like, semi-automatic.’
Trump’s comments come a day after U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick blocked his executive order which withheld federal funds from sanctuary cities. Trump himself took to Twitter earlier today to attack the judge over this ruling while also attacking the judges who ruled against his Muslim ban.
First the Ninth Circuit rules against the ban & now it hits again on sanctuary cities-both ridiculous rulings. See you in the Supreme Court!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2017
Out of our very big country, with many choices, does everyone notice that both the “ban” case and now the “sanctuary” case is brought in …
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2017
…the Ninth Circuit, which has a terrible record of being overturned (close to 80%). They used to call this “judge shopping!” Messy system.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2017
Trump’s executive orders have consistently been halted by the courts, so his frustration isn’t very surprising. However, it is a bit a hypocritical. In 2012, Trump attacked President Obama for using too many executive orders.
Why is @BarackObama constantly issuing executive orders that are major power grabs of authority? This is the latest
http://t.co/4IVBckTE— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2012
Trump has frequently vowed that he would bring these issues before the Supreme Court, but it remains to be seen how he would fare there. It’s possible the Supreme Court might not even review these cases. After all, the Supreme Court only hears about 0.1 percent of all cases that reach it via appeal.
As far as breaking up the Ninth Circuit goes, Trump might have a bit more luck with that plan. The Ninth Circuit is often seen as the most liberal part of the federal court system and Republicans may very well be open to the idea of redrawing the Ninth Circuit’s boundaries.
Featured image via Getty Images.
