More McConnell Iniquity

In October 2019, Justin Walker -- a protégé of Mitch McConnell -- was confirmed by the Senate for a lifetime appointment to the U.S. District Court in Kentucky. He's 37 years old. Upon graduation from law school, he served as a law clerk to Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who was then sitting on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. (He gave 119 media interviews during the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings for SCOTUS.) He was appointed despite the fact that the ABA (the American Bar Association) rated Walker "not qualified," saying that Walker “has a very substantial gap, namely the absence of any significant trial experience.”

According to The New York Times, "The District of Columbia appeals court is considered a steppingstone to the Supreme Court and is also viewed as a highly influential arbiter of many of Washington’s disputes over federal policy and separation of powers."

The Walker appointment, first to the federal bench in Kentucky and then to the second-highest court in the U.S., is typical of McConnell's drive to cement his legacy: appointment of extreme right-wing Trump appointments to U.S. federal courts (and young ones at that, who may continue to infect the country's judicial findings for the next 40 years).

But here's a new wrinkle to the poisonous McConnell legacy. Click here for an article in The New York Times by Carl Hulse, entitled "Appeals Court Vacancy Is Under Scrutiny Ahead of Contested Confirmation Hearing."

The chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit publicly advanced a call by a progressive group for an ethics investigation into the circumstances of a plum vacancy.

There's an allegation that McConnell may have contacted Judge Thomas B. Griffiths to get him to retire, opening a vacancy for Walker.

With the number of federal judicial vacancies to fill nearly exhausted, Mr. McConnell has been urging those contemplating retirement to step aside this year if they want to assure that their successors will be nominated by a Republican president and confirmed by a Republican-controlled Senate.

Also:

"The coordinated manner of Majority Leader McConnell’s involvement in the judges’ decision-making is quite unprecedented and raises significant ethical questions for the judges who heed his advice,” the group said in its letter requesting an investigation. It said a “thorough inquiry into the judge’s announcement and scheduled retirement, including when and how the decision to retire was made, and with whose input, is crucial.”