1
00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:07,560
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg Law Podcast. I'm June Grosso. Every

2
00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:10,440
Speaker 1: day we bring you insight and analysis into the most

3
00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:13,440
Speaker 1: important legal news of the day. You can find more

4
00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:18,040
Speaker 1: episodes of the Bloomberg Law Podcast on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud

5
00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:22,560
Speaker 1: and on Bloomberg dot com slash podcasts. Amid a cascade

6
00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:26,720
Speaker 1: of ethics questions about EPA administrator Scott pruittt President Trump

7
00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:30,080
Speaker 1: says he still has confidence in Pruitt. Departing from West

8
00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:34,000
Speaker 1: Virginia yesterday, Trump denied reports that he was considering replacing

9
00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:38,960
Speaker 1: the former Oklahoma Attorney General. Scott has done a fantastic job.

10
00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:44,559
Speaker 1: I think he's a fantastic person. Joining us is Jennifer

11
00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:48,760
Speaker 1: de Lowe, a Bloomberg News energy policy reporter. Jennifer tell

12
00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:52,240
Speaker 1: us about the latest Pruett ethics scandal involving a lease

13
00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:54,520
Speaker 1: on a d C condo and the new information you

14
00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:59,400
Speaker 1: reported on right, So we know that last year Administrator

15
00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:03,240
Speaker 1: Pruitt rented for up to about six months rented a

16
00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:07,520
Speaker 1: bedroom in a condo near Capitol Hill. On Capitol Hill

17
00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:12,000
Speaker 1: that from a healthcare lobbyist and her husband is also

18
00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:15,720
Speaker 1: a lobbyist. He's an energy lobbyist with whose firm has

19
00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:19,800
Speaker 1: clients regularly going before the e p A um And

20
00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:24,040
Speaker 1: what we learned uh fairly recently was that he prew

21
00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:26,480
Speaker 1: it basically paid fifty dollars a night to stay in

22
00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:29,679
Speaker 1: this one bedroom unit. Uh. The the interesting part of

23
00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,560
Speaker 1: this arrangement was that he only paid that some of

24
00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:36,000
Speaker 1: money on the nineties state there. Uh So on other

25
00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:39,200
Speaker 1: nights when he wasn't in Washington, d C. He could

26
00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:41,800
Speaker 1: leave a suitcase there, leave some belongings there on a

27
00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,360
Speaker 1: limited basis, but he didn't actually have to pay. Now,

28
00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:46,680
Speaker 1: your story this morning on the Bloomberg Terminal follows up

29
00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:50,360
Speaker 1: on that that lobbyist didn't necessarily have business before the

30
00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:52,760
Speaker 1: e p A last year, but he had a roster

31
00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:55,559
Speaker 1: of clients who perhaps did. Can you connect those dots

32
00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:59,280
Speaker 1: force right? Absolutely? So, for instance, he has lobbied in

33
00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:03,840
Speaker 1: the past for shin near Uh Energy, the first major

34
00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:06,880
Speaker 1: exporter of liquefied natural gas from the United States, And

35
00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:11,400
Speaker 1: while that is not necessarily or EPA doesn't directly regulate

36
00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,799
Speaker 1: llengy Uh, Administrator Pruitt last year went on a trip

37
00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:19,800
Speaker 1: to Morocco to tell the benefits of llengy Uh And

38
00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:23,320
Speaker 1: so that's that's an interesting connection. He's He's lobbied for

39
00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:28,000
Speaker 1: a bottling company, for instance, that was facing a fine

40
00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:33,480
Speaker 1: UH for violating air pollution requirements, permitting requirements related to

41
00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:36,079
Speaker 1: air pollution and settled that case with the e p

42
00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:38,680
Speaker 1: A last year. So there's an array of these these

43
00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,639
Speaker 1: you know, clients where they had some kind of dealings

44
00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:44,799
Speaker 1: with the e p A. And maybe it was tangential,

45
00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,799
Speaker 1: but but it's still points to the issues that are

46
00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:52,800
Speaker 1: raised and the appearance of impropriety that that can be

47
00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:55,480
Speaker 1: raised in this kind of a situation where you have

48
00:02:55,800 --> 00:03:01,640
Speaker 1: this odd interaction with Pruitt UH basically renting from a

49
00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:05,120
Speaker 1: pair of lobbyists. Jennifer. The Wall Street Journal has just

50
00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:08,959
Speaker 1: reported that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told

51
00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:12,560
Speaker 1: President Trump last week that he's convinced that e pH

52
00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,720
Speaker 1: Chief Pruitt needs to step down, and we know that

53
00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,320
Speaker 1: just this morning, Trump tweeted that and showing that he

54
00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,120
Speaker 1: still has confidence in Pruitt. What are the pressures on

55
00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:26,480
Speaker 1: Trump besides Kelly to replace Pruitt? When who's pushing the

56
00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:31,040
Speaker 1: Trump economic agenda hard I'm sorry, environmental agenda hard? Right,

57
00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:33,600
Speaker 1: So he is I would say the President is under

58
00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:36,640
Speaker 1: tremendous pressure, and it's coming in and from from all

59
00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:39,080
Speaker 1: sides with regard to Pruett. So he even in his own,

60
00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:43,200
Speaker 1: uh you know, stable of advisors, he's hearing divergent opinions

61
00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:48,520
Speaker 1: from from folks that are very critical of Prueit's handling

62
00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:52,680
Speaker 1: of these matters and are just seeing the daily headlines

63
00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:57,880
Speaker 1: as incredibly damaging. But he's also hearing from conservatives inside

64
00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,240
Speaker 1: and outside the White House who are saying, this is

65
00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:03,520
Speaker 1: our guy, and he's doing more to advance your agenda

66
00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:05,720
Speaker 1: at the e p A than almost anybody else in

67
00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:08,360
Speaker 1: your the cabinet. You can't afford to let him go.

68
00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:10,160
Speaker 1: And frankly, you're not going to be able to get

69
00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:13,280
Speaker 1: anyone like him confirmed in the Senate. And when you

70
00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:15,480
Speaker 1: say anyone like him, I'm so glad you said that,

71
00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:19,000
Speaker 1: because it's not just that he's a deregulator guy, but

72
00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:22,920
Speaker 1: he's got contacts, He knows people, he knows people CEOs

73
00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:27,200
Speaker 1: who are in those businesses that would do work with

74
00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:29,400
Speaker 1: or be affected by the e p A. Clarify that

75
00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:31,599
Speaker 1: for us, Well, he comes to the e p A

76
00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:34,840
Speaker 1: from Oklahoma, which obviously is a big oil and gas producer.

77
00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:37,720
Speaker 1: There's a number of energy companies based there. He has

78
00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:42,320
Speaker 1: a long history with those companies and and really brushes

79
00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:44,240
Speaker 1: with the industry. So so he comes to the e

80
00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:46,640
Speaker 1: p A with kind of a knowledge of businesses that

81
00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,520
Speaker 1: are regulated by the e p A. Obviously, he comes

82
00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:51,320
Speaker 1: to the e p A also having sued it more

83
00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:55,120
Speaker 1: than a dozen times about that. Right, So, so this

84
00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:57,839
Speaker 1: is this is someone who is very much of the

85
00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:01,040
Speaker 1: belief that e p A regulations should be more limited,

86
00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:03,760
Speaker 1: that states should take primacy and regulating a lot of

87
00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:07,360
Speaker 1: environmental matters. And uh and and he has the chops

88
00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:09,600
Speaker 1: to do it legally. I mean in terms of you know,

89
00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:12,200
Speaker 1: he's got the expertise and he's got this background, so

90
00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:15,200
Speaker 1: that that's something that conservatives are saying to Trump, you

91
00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:17,880
Speaker 1: can't afford to get rid of this expertise, and you're

92
00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:19,960
Speaker 1: not you really aren't going to get someone as passionate

93
00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,560
Speaker 1: about this in the job. But Jennifer, haven't most of

94
00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:28,359
Speaker 1: Pruitt's initiatives or new law, new regulations been stopped in

95
00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:32,560
Speaker 1: the courts, at least for the present, Right, it is

96
00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:37,000
Speaker 1: absolutely early days in the efforts by Pruitt to rewrite

97
00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,760
Speaker 1: a lot of these regulations. So, for instance, you know,

98
00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:43,039
Speaker 1: he's in the earliest part of of of replacing the

99
00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:46,799
Speaker 1: Clean Power Plan that the signature Obama rule to ratchet

100
00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:50,080
Speaker 1: down greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. So he's proposed

101
00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:53,919
Speaker 1: to rule that roll that back, but there's litigation underway

102
00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,760
Speaker 1: that may put that in jeopardy. He's tried to roll

103
00:05:56,839 --> 00:05:59,800
Speaker 1: back some some rules on methane pollution and that's being

104
00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,599
Speaker 1: ounge in the court. So so certainly, uh, you know,

105
00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:04,600
Speaker 1: it's not clear how all of this will end up.

106
00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:08,000
Speaker 1: But it also is true that this regulatory effort takes

107
00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:10,680
Speaker 1: time and it is still very early in the process.

108
00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:16,200
Speaker 1: Let's take a step back looking at the different scandals, controversies,

109
00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:21,680
Speaker 1: ethics issues versus the connections and the inability to perhaps

110
00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:25,480
Speaker 1: get somebody confirmed who would be like him. What are

111
00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:28,479
Speaker 1: the scales telling you? How does this way right now?

112
00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:31,479
Speaker 1: Is this uh just you have to look in some

113
00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:37,280
Speaker 1: tea leaves here. Yeah, it's I will say that every

114
00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:40,320
Speaker 1: hour it feels like the temperature changes on this a

115
00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:42,400
Speaker 1: little bit and it is hard to read doesn't like

116
00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:45,440
Speaker 1: the scandal, like he's not down with that absolutely, But

117
00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:47,480
Speaker 1: you know, you look at these tweets, so it's very

118
00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:49,920
Speaker 1: interesting as you look at the tweets and even much

119
00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:52,520
Speaker 1: of the phrasing yesterday, it is very focused on Prue

120
00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:56,080
Speaker 1: It's job performance. And I think that there's a distinction

121
00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:59,760
Speaker 1: between praising how the job he's doing versus praising the

122
00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:03,160
Speaker 1: man himself. And I think that reflects some of the

123
00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:05,600
Speaker 1: concerns in the White House that go all the way

124
00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:07,120
Speaker 1: up to the President. And I think what we're gonna

125
00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:09,080
Speaker 1: see over the next few days, the question is what

126
00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:13,040
Speaker 1: weighs more strongly on the president. Is it his allergy

127
00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:15,440
Speaker 1: to the scandal, or is it his concern that he

128
00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:18,280
Speaker 1: really wants a conservative fighter in his administration and he's

129
00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:20,880
Speaker 1: not willing to let this guy go Jennifer. Another thing

130
00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,760
Speaker 1: is that the e p a's top ethics officer said

131
00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:28,360
Speaker 1: last week that the arrangement, the condo arrangement, didn't violate

132
00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:31,840
Speaker 1: federal gift bands for government employees. But his analysis was

133
00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,760
Speaker 1: very narrow, was only based on one thing, and he

134
00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,680
Speaker 1: didn't do a complete analysis. So that made that maybe

135
00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:42,800
Speaker 1: see a change there, right, So that really just yesterday

136
00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:45,680
Speaker 1: this ethics officer or two days ago, actually this ethics

137
00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:49,240
Speaker 1: officer penned another memo saying, look, I only looked at

138
00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:52,640
Speaker 1: whether this was fair market value. I didn't consider whether

139
00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:55,960
Speaker 1: this rental was used as it was supposed to be

140
00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:58,720
Speaker 1: in the least, and I just certainly didn't consider whether

141
00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,560
Speaker 1: there was any violation of the ethics rules around impartiality.

142
00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:05,080
Speaker 1: So what he's sang there is there's a whole bunch

143
00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:08,600
Speaker 1: of areas unexplored really by his initial analysis that could

144
00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,200
Speaker 1: could prove damaging. To prove it as we dig further

145
00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:15,480
Speaker 1: into this, as folks look more closely at his interactions

146
00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:17,760
Speaker 1: over the last year and a half. All right, well,

147
00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:20,559
Speaker 1: we will have to wait and see. Trump has said

148
00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:25,480
Speaker 1: many times before supported his appointees and then later on

149
00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:29,160
Speaker 1: tweeted they were fired. Thanks so much, Jennifer. That's Jennifer

150
00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:37,240
Speaker 1: de Loewe, Bloomberg News energy policy reporter. In the Senate

151
00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:41,319
Speaker 1: confirmed twelve nominees for circuit court appointments and achievement. President

152
00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:43,599
Speaker 1: Trump noted earlier this year in a speech at the

153
00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:49,160
Speaker 1: Conservative Political Action Conference, We've confirmed a record number so

154
00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,400
Speaker 1: important of circuit court judges, and we are going to

155
00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:55,960
Speaker 1: be putting in a lot more joining us. As Bloomberg

156
00:08:56,040 --> 00:09:00,280
Speaker 1: Law reporter Patrick Gregory Patrick, President Donald Trump may get

157
00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:03,680
Speaker 1: a chance to flip three federal appeals courts that currently

158
00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:07,480
Speaker 1: have a majority of Democratic appointed judges to a majority

159
00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:11,199
Speaker 1: of Republican appointees tell us about that right. And the

160
00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:14,280
Speaker 1: reason that's important is because these federal courts of appeals,

161
00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:17,400
Speaker 1: they are the highest court besides the Supreme Courts. So

162
00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:21,040
Speaker 1: from issues ranging from abortions to gons, you name it,

163
00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:24,080
Speaker 1: these are the highest courts at any given dispute is

164
00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:28,840
Speaker 1: likely to get to. Three in particular, are close to flipping.

165
00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:31,640
Speaker 1: You have the Second Circuit, which is where New York is,

166
00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,880
Speaker 1: the third Circuit where Pennsylvania's, and the eleventh Circuit where

167
00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:38,959
Speaker 1: Florida is. They're all in sort of striking range of

168
00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:43,959
Speaker 1: having more Republican appointees than Democrat appointees. Patrick are these

169
00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:50,719
Speaker 1: particular courts known for being up particularly political? I don't

170
00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:53,720
Speaker 1: know if i'd say we're known for being particularly political,

171
00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:57,720
Speaker 1: but when you add more, when our president adds uh

172
00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:02,280
Speaker 1: judges that he's chosen, it definitely has an effect. Um

173
00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:04,199
Speaker 1: In the ninth Circuit, which is one I didn't name

174
00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:07,520
Speaker 1: because it's not going to flip um, but there's seven vacancies,

175
00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:10,760
Speaker 1: so you could go from six Republican appointees to thirteen.

176
00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:13,720
Speaker 1: That's not going to flip. But the appointees there could

177
00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:16,800
Speaker 1: definitely moderate the decisions of the majority, and they can

178
00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:19,400
Speaker 1: write more dissents that will draw attention the cases that

179
00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:24,199
Speaker 1: the Supreme Court might want to review. So, Patrick Trump

180
00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:27,080
Speaker 1: set a record for a president his first year confirming

181
00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:30,559
Speaker 1: twelve Circuit Court nominees, are having them confirmed, but only

182
00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:34,040
Speaker 1: to this year. Why isn't he moving at a faster pace.

183
00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:38,160
Speaker 1: That's a good question because you have mid terms looming.

184
00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:41,720
Speaker 1: There's a long shot chance of Republicans losing the Senate,

185
00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:45,760
Speaker 1: and they need Senate control to confirm nominees, especially after

186
00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:48,680
Speaker 1: what happened with Merrick Garland. You assume that the Democrats,

187
00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:51,320
Speaker 1: you know, might take a chance to give them some

188
00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,160
Speaker 1: payback if if they take control of the Senate um.

189
00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:56,960
Speaker 1: But you know, look at Tennessee, where the Democratic candidate

190
00:10:57,040 --> 00:10:59,040
Speaker 1: is polling ten points ahead in a state that Trump

191
00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:01,360
Speaker 1: carried by twenty six points. You would think that there

192
00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:04,400
Speaker 1: would be some more urgency there from Trump and the

193
00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:07,760
Speaker 1: Republicans in the Senate. One of the hurdles is that

194
00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:11,240
Speaker 1: Democrats are requiring thirty hours of debate for each nominee,

195
00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:15,240
Speaker 1: and so to confirm all the ten pending appellent nominees.

196
00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:19,199
Speaker 1: UM added with the forty pending district court nominees, it

197
00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:21,960
Speaker 1: would take more than sixty eight days, and that's going

198
00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:24,640
Speaker 1: on the Senate for seven So you have a big

199
00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:27,200
Speaker 1: time a hurdle there. But at the same time, the

200
00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:30,360
Speaker 1: Senate Republicans could try to change that rule. There has

201
00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:33,520
Speaker 1: been a proposal to limit um the debate required for

202
00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:36,880
Speaker 1: distreccord nominees for just two hours, make it easier maybe

203
00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:39,000
Speaker 1: for the appellent nominees to get through, wouldn't be such

204
00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,280
Speaker 1: a time burden. I think part of it is just

205
00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:44,280
Speaker 1: uh Center Republicans have different priorities right now, a lot

206
00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:46,760
Speaker 1: of other issues going on. They might feel like they've

207
00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:48,920
Speaker 1: gotten as much mileage with the voters for now that

208
00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,640
Speaker 1: they need as far as UM as. Trump touted the

209
00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:55,960
Speaker 1: record setting number of confirmations he got in. That's interesting

210
00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:58,800
Speaker 1: because that is something that the President has touted many

211
00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:01,679
Speaker 1: times when he goes on speaking engagements. The fact that

212
00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:05,280
Speaker 1: he's uh put in so many more judges at the

213
00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:08,440
Speaker 1: circuit level. Do do you foresee the President putting more

214
00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:13,280
Speaker 1: pressure on the Senate to confirm some of these federal

215
00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:17,320
Speaker 1: appeals court vacancies. You know, given the attention that these

216
00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:19,600
Speaker 1: you know, next to highest courts in the land get.

217
00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:23,000
Speaker 1: I think it depends on how much the base really

218
00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:25,080
Speaker 1: push us for it, and whether the base is more

219
00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,880
Speaker 1: focused on other issues. I really think getting Gorsets confirmed

220
00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:33,040
Speaker 1: it took push Trump a long way. Um with his base.

221
00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:36,000
Speaker 1: There's kind of a funny thing, you know, but Gorsets um.

222
00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:38,880
Speaker 1: You know, we don't like Trump's decisions on terroriffs and whatnot,

223
00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:41,079
Speaker 1: but we got Gorsets out of it. I think there

224
00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:43,080
Speaker 1: will be some more pressure as they go down the road,

225
00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:45,760
Speaker 1: but Trump and their center Republicans might just think, hey,

226
00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:48,040
Speaker 1: we're probably gonna win, or maybe they they're just completely

227
00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:50,160
Speaker 1: confident they are going to win in the midterms and

228
00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,640
Speaker 1: then they can just get to this later. Explain how

229
00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:57,920
Speaker 1: Trump's ability to flip the circuits depends partially on how

230
00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:00,880
Speaker 1: many judges are going to take seniors status, which is

231
00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:04,920
Speaker 1: up to the judges themselves. Right. So, senior status is

232
00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:09,040
Speaker 1: a form of semi retirement where a federal judge um

233
00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:12,400
Speaker 1: once he reaches age sixty five and reaches certain requirements

234
00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:14,640
Speaker 1: about how long he's been on the bench, they can

235
00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:17,040
Speaker 1: enter a form of summing retirement where they can still

236
00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:20,960
Speaker 1: sit on cases, but their seat um is considered vacant.

237
00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:23,400
Speaker 1: They go from active status to senior status, and then

238
00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:26,240
Speaker 1: the president gets to appoint someone else for the active

239
00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:29,839
Speaker 1: status seat. And about half of federal judges are now

240
00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:33,199
Speaker 1: eligible for senior status. So the bench is is pretty

241
00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:36,800
Speaker 1: old in that sense. But I've talked to experts that say,

242
00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:39,520
Speaker 1: there's really not much you can do to convince a

243
00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:42,280
Speaker 1: judge to go ahead and take senior status. For example,

244
00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:46,160
Speaker 1: if Trump wanted more Republican judges judges to take senior status,

245
00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:47,880
Speaker 1: he could encourage them to do that, and some people

246
00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:50,720
Speaker 1: have written that he should, But my sense is that

247
00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:53,840
Speaker 1: these judges they tend to linger, and they retire when

248
00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:56,800
Speaker 1: they want to retire. Patrick does the president to have

249
00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,320
Speaker 1: any appointees on his short list for some of these

250
00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:04,839
Speaker 1: vacancies that could be opening up in the appeals courts? Um?

251
00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:09,200
Speaker 1: Shortlist for what? For vacancies? Yeah? For the vacancies, yeah, yeah.

252
00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:12,280
Speaker 1: He has UM A number of nominations pending. Yeah, there

253
00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:15,240
Speaker 1: there are ten nominations pending. UM. And as far as

254
00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,199
Speaker 1: short lists, um, you know, this is definitely a traditional

255
00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:20,760
Speaker 1: path um going from a Court of Appeals to the

256
00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:23,960
Speaker 1: Supreme Court. If a vacancy opens up there. Um, we

257
00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:27,920
Speaker 1: saw that with Animal SuPAR with Federal Court nominee. He

258
00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:31,920
Speaker 1: was um confirmed, and before he was even confirmed, he

259
00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:36,920
Speaker 1: was on President Trump's shortlist of potential Supreme Court nominees. Um,

260
00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:40,560
Speaker 1: so that is definitely something we could see. Patrick, we

261
00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:44,960
Speaker 1: have about a minute here less actually, but um explain

262
00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:49,080
Speaker 1: how some of the some of the nominees have actually

263
00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:52,800
Speaker 1: had some Democratic support. They've been moderate enough, right, And

264
00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:56,400
Speaker 1: that's the other question here. This metric of whether you

265
00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:00,880
Speaker 1: have more Republican appointees versus Democratic appointees if kind of murky,

266
00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:03,680
Speaker 1: and it's it's far from perfect, but it's sort of

267
00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:07,920
Speaker 1: the best best we've got. And the question is how

268
00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:11,280
Speaker 1: ideological are those nominees going to be. That's obviously part

269
00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:14,760
Speaker 1: of the effect that they're going to have. And we've

270
00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:18,880
Speaker 1: seen some nominees who have not appeared to be ideological.

271
00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:21,960
Speaker 1: We've seen even nominees to the Ninth Circuit, which is

272
00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:24,640
Speaker 1: seen as Patrick, I'm going to have to stop you there.

273
00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:27,080
Speaker 1: We'll pick up with this in the future. That's Bloomberg

274
00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:30,320
Speaker 1: Law reporter Patrick Gregory. Thanks for listening to the Bloomberg

275
00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:33,480
Speaker 1: Law podcast. You can subscribe and Listen to the show

276
00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:38,240
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, and on bloomberg dot com slash podcast.

277
00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:41,360
Speaker 1: I'm June Brolso, this is Bloomberg