President Trump Is 'Absolutely' Considering Breaking Up the Ninth Circuit Court
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he is considering splitting up the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit after its recent rulings that have blocked two of his executive orders.
“There are many people that want to break up the Ninth Circuit. It’s outrageous,” Trump said to the Washington Examiner in an interview at the White House. “Everybody immediately runs to the Ninth Circuit. And we have a big country. We have lots of other locations. But they immediately run to the Ninth Circuit. Because they know that’s like, semi-automatic.”
On Tuesday, a California judge temporarily blocked the president’s efforts to withhold federal funds from so-called “sanctuary cities,” or municipalities that limit their cooperation with immigration enforcement agencies.“If there was doubt about the scope of the order, the president and attorney general [Jeff Sessions] have erased it with their public comments,” Judge William H. Orrick of United States District Court wrote in his ruling.
Two other judges on the Ninth Circuit earlier this year blocked different versions of Trump’s proposed travel ban, which targeted Muslim-majority countries.
The Ninth Circuit has jurisdiction over nine west coast states and two U.S. territories. Eighteen of the court’s 25 judges were appointed by Democratic presidents.
“You see judge shopping, or what’s gone on with these people, they immediately run to the Ninth Circuit,” Trump added. “It’s got close to an 80 percent reversal period, and what’s going on in the 9th Circuit is a shame.”
