Obama Expected to Shift Fourth Circuit Court Left

Legal Times made an interesting observation today about President-elect Barack Obama’s opportunity to shift the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, a notoriously conservative court that hears many important national security cases, far to the left of where it now stands.  The 15-judge court has four vacancies; when he fills them, Obama could instantaneously switch the Democrats on the court from the minority to the majority.

The Fourth Circuit has heard such important cases as that of Ali Saleh Kahlah al- Marri, the accused al-Qaeda operative being held without charges in a military brig in South Carolina. As we noted last week, that case may now be decided by the Supreme Court.