The Fourth Circuit wraps itself geographically around the Nation's Capital. It is the last circuit to include any of the original 13 colonies, and politically it runs the rainbow from dark blue (Maryland) to deep red (South Carolina). It is also the first of the districts in numerical order to present the non-partisan, long-standing conundrums for presidents with a will to shape the judiciary: You just CAN'T appoint judges, unless you have an OPEN SEAT. And there is the pesky, non-Constitutional caveat, that you also need to have the state's Senators on board. A courtesy that has been weaponized in recent years as the stakes over the future of our nation are once again embroiled in the issue of Racism wrapped in Misogyny sprinkled with Hetero-centrism spiced by Religious zealotry...not to put too fine a point on it.
As two the first three circuits from Maine to Delaware, there was a lot of pent-up progressive angst that was released and relieved by a Democratic Administration. And now the ideological tables have turned. It is an inevitable result of our omnipresent "Winner-Takes-All" cultural mind-set. Having said that, keep in mind that in the following Districts no openings have come up: Northern West Virginia, Southern West Virginia, Eastern North Carolina, and in the other two North Carolina districts, one or both of the Senators have blocked all the proposed nominees.
And yet, the dial has still moved in the direction of a More Perfect Union.
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