The Hill 2020s: on Government Reform


Barack Obama: FactCheck: Senate GOP blocked over 100 open judgeships

Trump said, "President Obama [& Biden] left me 128 judges to fill. When you leave office, you don't leave any judges. Maybe he got complacent." Is that true that Trump could appoint so many judges because President Obama left the positions unfilled? We checked, and found that while it's true that Trump inherited 128 open judge positions, that was because the Senate blocked Obama's appointments.

Excerpts from The Hill e-zine, March 29, 2018: "Republicans took control of the Senate in 2014 during Obama's last two years in office and did not confirm many of his nominees. The Senate's top Republicans, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, teamed up to block Democratic efforts to push forward Obama's nominees, slowing down confirmations by the most in six decades. Most notably, McConnell refused to hold a confirmation hearing on Obama's nominee for Supreme Court justice, Merrick Garland. The vacancies left behind by the Obama administration were not by choice.

Source: The Hill e-zine Fact-Check on First 2020 Presidential Debate Sep 29, 2020

Donald Trump: FactCheck: 128 judgeships open because Senate GOP forced it

Trump said, "President Obama [& Biden] left me 128 judges to fill. When you leave office, you don't leave any judges. Maybe he got complacent." Is that true that Trump could appoint so many judges because President Obama left the positions unfilled? We checked, and found that while it's true that Trump inherited 128 open judge positions, that was because the Senate blocked Obama's appointments.

Excerpts from The Hill e-zine, March 29, 2018: "Republicans took control of the Senate in 2014 during Obama's last two years in office and did not confirm many of his nominees. The Senate's top Republicans, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, teamed up to block Democratic efforts to push forward Obama's nominees, slowing down confirmations by the most in six decades. Most notably, McConnell refused to hold a confirmation hearing on Obama's nominee for Supreme Court justice, Merrick Garland. The vacancies left behind by the Obama administration were not by choice.

Source: The Hill e-zine Fact-Check on First 2020 Presidential Debate Sep 29, 2020

Mondaire Jones: Opposition to D.C. statehood is racist

[On statehood for Washington DC]: "I have had enough of my colleagues' racist insinuations that somehow the people of Washington D.C. are incapable or even unworthy of our democracy," Jones, a progressive first-term lawmaker, said. "Fear that in D.C. their white supremacist politics will no longer play," he added. "Fear that soon enough, white supremacist politics won't work anywhere in America. Fear that if they don't rig our democracy, they won't win."
Source: The Hill e-zine on 2020 Congressional NY-17 election Apr 23, 2021

Susan Rice: 2020 Election: Our democracy has held

In her op-ed, Rice said that after Biden's victory and the rejection of the Trump campaign's lawsuits, "our democracy has held."

"Perhaps only when the stars are optimally aligned -- when voters turn out in huge numbers, when the outcome is not close, when state and local officials and the courts adhere to the rule of law, when foreign interference is thwarted, when the media behaves responsibly and when people remain peaceful -- can our democracy endure its greatest tests."

Source: The Hill e-zine on 2021 Biden Administration Dec 22, 2020

  • The above quotations are from The Hill e-magazine coverage and analysis of 2020s campaigns.
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2016 Presidential contenders on Government Reform:
  Republicans:
Gov.Jeb Bush(FL)
Dr.Ben Carson(MD)
Gov.Chris Christie(NJ)
Sen.Ted Cruz(TX)
Carly Fiorina(CA)
Gov.Jim Gilmore(VA)
Sen.Lindsey Graham(SC)
Gov.Mike Huckabee(AR)
Gov.Bobby Jindal(LA)
Gov.John Kasich(OH)
Gov.Sarah Palin(AK)
Gov.George Pataki(NY)
Sen.Rand Paul(KY)
Gov.Rick Perry(TX)
Sen.Rob Portman(OH)
Sen.Marco Rubio(FL)
Sen.Rick Santorum(PA)
Donald Trump(NY)
Gov.Scott Walker(WI)
Democrats:
Gov.Lincoln Chafee(RI)
Secy.Hillary Clinton(NY)
V.P.Joe Biden(DE)
Gov.Martin O`Malley(MD)
Sen.Bernie Sanders(VT)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren(MA)
Sen.Jim Webb(VA)

2016 Third Party Candidates:
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Roseanne Barr(PF-HI)
Robert Steele(L-NY)
Dr.Jill Stein(G,MA)
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Page last updated: Aug 04, 2024