Senate Republicans have been cramming Donald Trump's hardline right-wing nominees onto the federal courts at breakneck speed. So it's worth pausing a moment to note that last week, there was one such nominee who is such a far-right ideologue that even GOP Senate leaders had to slow their roll, if only slightly.
After a hearing last Wednesday during which nominee Andrew Oldham tried, and frequently failed, to run away from his well-documented political views, the Senate Judiciary Committee delayed a vote on the Texas lawyer's appointment to the Fifth Circuit Court, which covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Odds are, however, that it's only a slight delay until the full Senate votes on Oldham
Oldham has worked as general counsel to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, dating back to when Abbott was the state attorney general. He's typical of the kinds of judges that Trump has nominated, under the guidance of organizations like the Federalist Society: A 39-year-old right-wing radical with a long history of trying to gut any regulations on pollution or gun ownership while expressing a notable willingness to regulate the rights of women and people of color out of existence.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that Andrew Oldham has one of the most disturbing records we’ve seen in this or any other slate of candidates put forward by this president," Nan Aron, the president of Alliance for Justice, said last week on a press call. "He stands out for his intense hostility to equal rights for millions of his fellow citizens and his disdain for government.”
Oldham's views on environmental protections are of particular concern. He has repeatedly argued against the government's role in protecting the planet from pollution.
“The reason why the administrative state is enraging is not that we disagree with what the EPA does," Oldham argued at a 2016 talk at the University of Chicago's law school. “It’s the illegitimacy of it.”
Similarly, he has argued that the issue is not whether he agrees "with a particular Department of Labor regulation or a particular IRS regulation," but rather that he thinks "the entire existence of this edifice of administrative law is constitutionally suspect."
Oldham's hostility towards any environmental regulation is so deeply entrenched that he has even impugned the legitimacy of federal judges, although he now wishes to be one. Last year, in a speech at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Oldham decried laws like the Endangered Species Act and dismissed judges who uphold such laws as "unelected lawyers who happen to wear black robes."
Oldham has backed up these views with actions. He joined then-Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt on his lengthy legal battle to destroy Obama-era EPA regulations meant to slow climate change and reduce air pollution that threatens the public health. Pruitt, of course, was picked last year by Trump to head the EPA, and in that position has been trying to gut a series of environmental regulations, although so far his efforts have often failed in court.
“He failed in those attempts to dismantle EPA safeguards, but if confirmed to the judiciary, Mr. Oldham will be the one deciding the outcomes of any number of environmental cases," explained Joanne Spalding, deputy director of the environmental law program for the Sierra Club. “Given his extreme ideological worldview and disdain for environmental law, it’s clear that Mr. Oldham is unfit to serve on the judiciary.”
During his confirmation hearing, Oldham tried to downplay his history of anti-government extremism, putting the blame on Abbott — who, to be fair, is also a right-wing extremist — by saying he was simply "advocating for a client" and "would leave behind all of those litigating positions" if he was confirmed.
This excuse doesn't hold much water, however, as the quotes in question do not come from Oldham's legal arguments on behalf of Abbott or the state of Texas but during panel discussions or speeches where he was presented as speaking for himself. During the hearing, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., called Oldham's bluff on this.
"Now come on, don’t kid me," Whitehouse said. "You know perfectly well [that] in that speech, you used a word that is highly personal, didn’t you? Were you talking about somebody else when you said that you were enraged by the illegitimate administrative state? That’s not speaking on behalf of the governor, not when you’re talking about your own emotions."
Oldham's hostility towards environmental regulation has done nothing to dampen his enthusiasm for laws restricting human rights, as evidenced by his history of defending laws that limit voting rights or deny people access to fair housing. He rejects the idea that the government can regulate air pollution but appears to support the proposition that it can regulate women's bodies, supporting laws that place medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion and only serve to make the procedure harder to get. During his confirmation hearing, Oldham even refused to say whether he believed that the Supreme Court's landmark desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education, was fairly decided.
Issues of racial justice and environmentalism intersect heavily in the areas that the Fifth Circuit Court covers in Texas and the Deep South, making this twin disregard for human rights and environmental quality particularly troubling.
“It’s important to recognize that the Fifth Circuit is home to a high percentage of people of color," Aron explained. "These are communities that already face uphill battles getting justice," especially as "economic inequity and environmental hazards go hand in hand."
"There are a lot of industrial facilities that are subject to EPA regulations that are there to protect" neighboring communities that are racially diverse, Spalding explained. "With cases coming before the Fifth Circuit, where communities are trying to protect themselves from industrial pollution, it does not bode well to have people like Andrew Oldham on the bench.”
It seems likely, however, that all Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee could do was embarrass Oldham enough to slow down his confirmation vote. In the constant chaos that the Trump administration has brought to Washington, odds are high that Oldham will soon slide onto the federal bench without garnering much more mainstream attention.
Shares