Editor, Ceres Courier,

Congress’ move to limit the power of federal judges is right on the money.

The federal judiciary is a disgrace. There are 677 district judges appointed by the president and 1,770 total judges. There is a lack of professional diversity in the federal judiciary. Seventy percent are corporate lawyers. They roll out the red carpet for big firms like Paul Weiss and Wilmer Hale and are notoriously unfriendly to the plaintiffs’ bar. They do not recuse themselves even in cases involving their former law firms. This is because they know that they are appointed for life and that the circuit courts — on which district judges unconstitutionally “sit by designation” — never act on complaints against them.

The Biden White House Counsel’s Office, running appointments, consisted entirely of Wilmer Hale lawyers. Most federal judges are appointed because they are friends with Charles and Robert Schumer and other important senators.

Only one percent of federal court cases go to trial. This is because federal judges dismiss all the cases in violation of the Supreme Court’s holdings in Twombly and Iqbal.

In 2021 and 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported that 131 federal judges broke the law and judicial ethics by sitting in court cases involving companies in which they or their family owned stock. One federal judge, Lewis Liman, failed to recuse himself in four cases in which he owned stock. Litovich v. Bank of America Corp. involved a lawsuit against big banks. It which was originally dismissed by Liman but later revived due to a financial conflict of interest (his wife owned Bank of America stock.)

Marbury v. Madison, which established the precedent of judicial review of executive actions, did not contemplate federal judges’ overstepping their bounds or acting outside the scope of their constitutional authority.

The best way to limit the federal judiciary’s powers is to reduce its size. Fortunately, last year President Biden vetoed a bill to create 66 new federal judgeships. 

Andrew Delany

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