What if we could take perhaps the second- or third-most powerful court in the country, a favorite court of conservatives, and install a liberal/progressive majority instead?
What if this is not a hypothetical or fantasy?
Because it’s not. The 4th Circuit, which hears federal appeals from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, was long regarded as perhaps the nation’s most conservative federal court—even more than the Supreme Court. Yet now, it is not even a conservative court of any kind. What changed?
President Obama. That’s what changed. And he did it with remarkable speed.
(Note—the 4th Circuit’s power stems from its jurisdiction over Maryland and Virginia, homes to many federal agencies. So when conservatives try to decrease federal power vis a vis wealthy business interests, the cases often go to the 4th Circuit.)
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