The Right's Continued Stranglehold on the Federal Courts

Here's an alarming fact. "Because of retirements, the percentage of Republican-nominated district judges actually has gone up" since President Obama took office. For thirty years, one of the right's most insidious and successful strategies was the takeover of the federal bench. Thus we have not only the Supreme Court we have, but about 60% of federal judges appointed by Republicans nationwide. The Federalist Society was formed in 1982 specifically to bring about this conservative revolution - for many years, conservative judges had easy access to the best and brightest and a badge of true conservatism on their resume - service in Fed-Soc. So not only did the Republicans have the appointments, but they also had all-but guaranteed loyalty screening as well. This strategy is very well known and well documented, and has been for some time. Most recently, Jeffrey Toobin's huge best-seller The Nine articulated the strategy in great detail.

BREAKING: President Obama announces recess appointments

A few minutes ago the White House released a statement announcing plans to make 15 recess appointments to avoid continuing Republican obstruction against their hearings.  More evidence of the sea change going on amongst emboldened Democratic leadership in the wake of their win against a united GOP.