Trump, as scattered and incompetent as he is in overseeing seemingly every other aspect of government, is achieving remarkable success in packing the courts with life-tenure rightwing ideologues. By throwing red meat to his base he advances the culture wars engendered by Republicans parading extremist social and religious opinion to elect candidates - including Trump himself - who work to undermine voters' own political and economic interests.

And, of course, making abortion illegal will not end the practice, but merely deny access to safe abortions.

'Wendy Vitter is the kind of judicial nominee anti-abortion campaigners banked on when they cast a vote for Trump.

She’s a former prosecutor and general counsel for the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans who lobbied against abortion access, cheered laws which make abortion “difficult”, and believes abortions hurt women.

Vitter has insisted she could keep rulings separate from her personal views. Less than a week ago, the Senate judiciary committee moved forward her nomination for a lifetime appointment in the eastern district court of Louisiana.

Liberals' worst nightmare: a second supreme court pick for Trump
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Daniel Goldberg, legal director at Alliance for Justice, a group that rates judicial nominees, said: “For the next 30, 40, 50 years, these individuals will be deciding cases involving reproductive rights, regarding sex harassment, regarding workplace equality.

“That means for the vast, vast majority of people, the final word on what our constitution means and whether critical laws are properly enforced is from these lower courts” – such as the district court where Vitter could serve.'

[theguardian.com]