Marcia Coyle:

Well, the Ninth Circuit has been a punching bag for a number of years from the conservative side.

I think it's important to realize that just about all presidents get frustrated with courts at times. I certainly remember that the Obama administration was very frustrated when its policies on immigration, on the environment were blocked or temporarily thwarted by federal district courts.

So, as far as the Ninth Circuit goes, it's a huge circuit. It's the biggest circuit court that we have. It is probably right now still majority Democratic appointments. But it's a very diverse bench, and it just depends on what type of panel of three judges that you get when you file your appeal, or, if you're in the low — even lower court, in the district court, who you get.

So I think, Judy, we all have to remember that these judges, when they come to the bench, are not blank slates. They got their appointments because they — most of them had political connections. They went through a political appointment process and confirmation process, and they have certain ideology.

When they're faced with some very difficult, complicated constitutional and statutory issues, as they are facing now, because of policies by the Trump administration, new policies or rollbacks of old policies, sometimes, that ideology is going to play a role as they apply the standard tools that judges apply in trying to interpret the Constitution and federal laws.

But they are not blank slates.