Naked criticism: Trump correct on blast of judges' ideological gap

Analysis of significant decisions on immigration cases shows that 53 of 54 Democratic judges ruled against Trump

President Trump wasn’t wrong last week when he pointed to an obvious ideological gap between judges nominated by a Democratic president versus those nominated by a Republican — but legal experts said his mistake was in coupling it with such naked criticism of the judiciary.

A Washington Times analysis of significant judicial decisions on immigration cases over the last two years shows that 53 of the 54 Democratic judges who issued or signed onto opinions in immigration cases ruled against theTrump administration’s get-tough approach.

By contrast, among GOP-appointees to the federal bench, 15 judges have backed the administration in immigration cases and 13 have not.

An earlier Times analysis of rulings in Obamacare-related cases found a split just as striking. More than 90 percent of Democratic-appointed judges backed the Affordable Care Act, while nearly 80 percent of GOP-nominated judges found legal fault with the 2010 law and the way the previous administration carried it out.

Legal scholars say it’s not so much the party labels, but the competing judicial philosophies that are playing out in those numbers — though they say most judges do try to live up to their profession as independent arbiters of justice.

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