How did it happen?

The recent 9th circuit decision striking down California's magazine ban caught many by surprise. One person asked me:

How did the 9th pass this? It is not their style.

I will tell you how. While the Democrats were busy with the sham impeachment, Trump was busy appointing two associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, 53 judges for the United States courts of appeals, 146 judges for the United States district courts, and two judges for the United States Court of International Trade.

The circuit courts actually affect US law and its application far more than the Supreme Court. 98 percent of appellate cases are decided at the circuit level, with SCOTUS only hearing 2 percent of appellate cases.

There are only 179 circuit court judges. Trump appointed 50 of them. Thirty percent of the appeals judges were appointed by Trump. The Ninth Circuit has 47 judges. the two who came to this decision were Callahan and Lee, one a Trump appointee, the other by GHW Bush. In fact, of the entire court:

2 were appointed by President Nixon
3 were appointed by President Carter.
3 were appointed by President Reagan
2 were appointed by GHW Bush
13 were appointed by President Clinton.
7 were appointed by President GW Bush
7 were appointed by President Reagan.
7 were appointed by President Obama
10 were appointed by President Trump.

You can see that the most influential President on the Ninth Circuit is Clinton. The youngest of the Clinton appointees is 66 years old. The judiciary is getting older, with the oldest member of the circuit judiciary being 97 years old and sixteen of them are over the age of 75. In fact, the average age of the judges in the 9th circuit is 68 years old.

With Trump being the second most influential President and an aging judiciary, the ninth circuit will continue to shift in its politics as its makeup shifts. As long as we can keep him in the White House. This is why elections matter.