Dinner: Beef Barley Soup with Roasted Mushrooms, etc.

 

Dinner: Roasted Chicken Breast Fillet with Onion, Mushrooms & Yukon Gold Potatoes, and Warm Bread Salad with Arugula

 

Sixth Circuit Federal Court 2023

The Sixth District is comprised of four states divided into nine Districts, two each for Michigan, Ohio, and Kentucky; and three for Tennessee.

The ratios of Justices to Citizenry are less variable than with other districts, but still surprisingly inequitable.

The Sixth District is one in which President Trump made significant appointments to.  President Biden's nominees have been focused on bringing racial and gender diversity to the Circuit.  

The ratios of Racial/Ethnic groups and Justices aligns very well.81% of the population is White, 82% of the Justices.  14% is Black, and the same percent are judges.  3% of the population is Hispanic compare to 1% of the Judges, 2% is Asian compared to 3% of the Judges.

Fifth Circuit Federal Courts 2023

 

Within the pantheon of Federal Circuit Courts, there are two circuits that stand out. The Fifth and the Ninth.  The Fifth is considered to be the most Conservative (think, Republican) and the Ninth is the bastion of all things liberal (a.k.a Democratic).  Of course, these considerations, while not entirely devoid of truth are nonetheless limited and like so many things political, incomplete.

The Fifth District is comprised of three states divided into 9 Districts.  The coverage is wildly disparate.  Like so many other districts.  My favorite example is the comparison between Louisiana and Maryland.  Both states have comparable populations.  Maryland is a single District, while Louisiana is divided into three Districts.  Maryland has a total of 10 Judicial Seats, and Louisiana has a combined total of 22 Judicial Seats!--over twice as many.  

The question that this brings to my mind is inevitability.  The old "If you Build It, they will come."  What produced the crazy disparity between the two states?  Is it a result of historical patterns combined with a need to justify the work force?  A work force whose purpose as justice also creates and supports another industry.  I am speaking of the criminal prison industry in the form of Federal Penitentiaries, in this instance.  There is so much more that can and must be explored in this.  The numbers reveal a pattern based on an historical bias with a clear fiduciary consequence.

The Obama Administration was able to find compromise candidates with Republican Senators in this District.  To date, the Senators from Mississippi have also made nice.  It remains an open question whether or not those from Texas and Louisiana can.  My money would be on those from Louisiana.

The Disproportionate ratio between men and women by appointment is not a result of the greater percentage of Republican or Democratic appointees.   In fact, more of the women currently serving as judges were appointed by Republican Presidents.

The racial/ethnic composition of the Fifth District is tenuously White at 44%.  The percentage of white judges reflects the old paradigm of colonial overlords at 69%!  Black judges are at 13% and should be 16% or three more judges.  Hispanic Judges are 14% and should be 36% or 22 more judges.  Asian judges are the closest to being in parity, but one more judge would satisfy the equity factor.  The one judge who claims Native American Heritage fulfills the percentage of Native Americans in the Fifth District.

Dinner: Cincinnati-Style Chili

 

Made with cinnamon and served on Angel Hair Pasta with cheese.  Usually it's a Sharp Cheddar, but today I used a Pepper Jack.

Fourth Circuit Federal Courts 2023

 

The Fourth Circuit of the Federal Judiciary covers a region from the southern Mid-Atlantic states down across the Piedmont of the Carolina's.  Five states divided into nine districts.  And though they surround Washington, DC, the District of Columbia is not included in their mix.  Rather, DC has its own dedicated Federal Circuit Court that I like to think of as the 12th Circuit.

The ratio of judges to inhabitants vary widely and in part are throwbacks to history when populations were quite different and travel was mainly undertaken on horseback or a horse-pulled carriage.  For example, the fact that West Virginia is divided into two districts (Northern and Southern) and served by a total of 8 seated Justices with a population a quarter as large as neighboring Maryland with only 10 seated Justices is a nod to a time when travel across the "mountain" state was far more arduous than it is today.

Additionally, the swelling population of North Carolina has far outpaced the addition of Judicial seats to its three District Courts, with the Eastern District having one of the greatest disparities in the nation.

The Fourth Circuit has a deeper slate of Judges than the previous three with two each appointed by Presidents Reagan and Bush-the-Elder.  In the political party affiliation game, Democratic Presidents hold a 7 seat lead over Republican Presidents, with a strong likelihood that President Biden will be able to nominate and confirm at least three more new Judges.

Biden's aggressive nomination of both female and minority candidates has begun the long overdue process of bringing gender parity and racial diversity to the Fourth Circuit.  The image of the fading blue of White Jurists in the Ethnic/Racial Demographics table depicts this darkening of the old hegemony.  It balanced circuit, factoring in the 3 open seats, 2 more of the total would need to be held by Asian Justices, and 5 more by Hispanic Justices.  The ratio of Black Justices is on the mark.

Third Circuit Federal Courts 2023

Continuing our review of the Federal Circuit Courts: 

The Third Circuit Federal Court is comprised of six districts covering three states and one territory.  New Jersey is the largest District Court with 17 judges to serve an undivided state.  

Based on the population to judge ratio it would seem that the U.S. Virgin Islands is a hotbed of Federal criminality!  In general, the ratios and therefore the workloads across these Districts vary widely.  The average number of judges in District Courts is just north of 4.  Eastern Pennsylvania, with 22 seats is the 4th largest District after: 1) Central California (Los Angeles), Southern New York (New York City), and Northern Illinois (Chicago).  Eastern Pennsylvania is anchored by Philadelphia.

I know--we ALL know--judges are supposed to be impartial; and yet, this very day, we learn of how the wife of our United States Supreme Court Chief Justice earned hundreds of thousands of dollars pushing lawyers toward firms that would later argue cases before her husband--and we are to believe that there was NEVER a conversation between them about any of these people?  Connecting the dots, their success before the court directly impacted her financial gain.  

So now that we've dispelled that old chestnut, it is in the third circuit that you see the lingering effects of President Trumps appointees.  Most specifically in Western Pennsylvania; however, this is tempered by the fact that the first to T's are judges that were actually nominated by President Obama, and then had their nomination returned by Mitch McConnell -- oops, I mean Donald Trump at the beginning of his first year in office.  This brief moment of detente included a nominee for the District Court of Rhode Island and a nominee for the District Court of Maryland--ALL women.

New Jersey is another story.  For the 4 years of the Trump administration, not a single nominee was proposed.  None of the candidates offered by the states senators: Menendez and Booker were deemed acceptable.

Gender parity in the Third Circuit still favors men 58% to 42%.  Even if President Biden were to fill the three empty seats with women, the ratio would only shift 56% to 44%.

When you breakdown the Racial/Ethnic demographics, it looks like this:  1) The White population in general in the circuit is 72% and on the courts it's 66%, 2) The Black population in general in the circuit is 13% and on the courts it's 19%, 2) The Hispanic population in general in the circuit is 9% and on the courts it's 13%, 2) The Asian population in general in the circuit is 6% and on the courts it's 3%.  The percentage of Black Judges is a bit elevated by the inclusion of the Unites States Virgin Islands.