Senator Amy Klobuchar argued that if Donald Trump wins the 2024 presidential election, he will nominate more judges who share his views on limiting federal agencies’ authority to make important policy decisions.
Klobuchar said Trump-appointed judges ruled on recent cases related to abortion, voting rights, and air pollution regulations in ways that favor restricting agencies and giving more power to Congress and courts.
Klobuchar said, “It matters, you…are going to discuss later in your program whether or not a president is above the law, whether or not he can claim immunity for any act, because that’s what Donald Trump is claiming. We know, with the Mifepristone decision, that was a Trump judge. These decisions about voting rights and the decisions about changing the John Lewis bill and making all of these decisions, that’s about judges, who have been put on by Donald Trump, yes, but also, it’s about judges you can put on that follow the law and are highly qualified.”
She referenced the Supreme Court decision limiting the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon emissions from power plants.
Klobuchar warned that if Trump returns to office, he would appoint additional judges believing unelected agencies should not have the final say on crucial issues and that policymaking power should instead lie with Congress, as evidenced by positions taken by his past judicial nominees.
“And even the Chevron decision…which is about allowing agencies to make decisions about say, what is the percentage of particles in air pollution? Some of these judges that Donald Trump put on or are judges out of his ilk, they actually have said, oh, agencies shouldn’t do that, we should have Congress and the judges make those decisions. You can see where this is rolling if he is allowed to come back and put these judges on,” she said.
