Reagan-Appointed Judges Now Conservative ‘Superstars’
Many federal appeals judges appointed by President Ronald Reagan are now at the height of their power, issuing conservative opinions on hot-button issues like affirmative action, so-called partial-birth abortions and gun rights.
A USA Today story on how these judges are shaping the law said they were “young, brainy and bold” when appointed to the bench in the 1980s. “Reagan’s enduring legacy shows the power a president has in shaping the law—not just at the Supreme Court, which gets so much attention, but also in the midlevel appeals courts,” the story says.
Reagan appointed 83 appellate judges, and 66 are still hearing cases. The first President Bush appointed 42 appeals judges, President Clinton appointed 66, and the second President Bush appointed 58, the story says. Many of Reagan’s judges, formerly law professors and other legal luminaries, are now “superstars of the conservative movement,” the story reports.
The articles points to several cases in the U.S. Supreme Court that first attracted widespread notice when Reagan appointees issued opinions highlighting the legal issues.
A pending case testing whether the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own a gun arrived at the Supreme Court after Reagan-appointed Judge Laurence Silberman sided with gun owners.
The Supreme Court accepted another pending case, this one involving a black employee who sued the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain for discrimination after an influential dissent by Reagan-appointed Judge Frank Easterbrook. He had argued Supreme Court precedent suggested that Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act did not protect the employee from retaliation after making discrimination charges.
