One area where President Donald Trump is making undeniable progress is in reshaping America’s court system.
Yesterday Trump ended the longest-running federal judicial vacancy with Richard E. Meyers II, who was confirmed by the Senate 68 to 21. That ended a fourteen year vacancy that both George W. Bush and Barack Obama failed to fill. It also marked the 170th federal judge confirmed under Trump.
For reference, that’s so many successful nominations that 20% of federal judges were selected by Trump.
Bloomberg’s Sahil Kapur has the rundown:
The Senate confirmed EIGHT new federal judges this week, bringing Donald Trump's total to 170.
—120 on district courts
—48 on circuit courts
—2 on Supreme CourtNearly all are in their 40s or 50s with lifetime appointments and positioned to shape American law for generations.
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) December 5, 2019
Donald Trump has now picked about one in every five American federal judges.
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) December 5, 2019
This is all in the face of unprecedented opposition. As I noted last month; in Article III courts, where appointments are permanent, nearly half of Trump’s appointees have been appointed with greater than 25% opposition, reflecting hyper-partisanship in the Trump era. Only 8% of Obama’s nominees faced such opposition, and only 4% of Bush’s. Seventy-five percent of Trump’s appointees for the U.S. Court of Appeals were confirmed with greater than 25% opposition, while only 9% of Obama’s judges were.
Historically, from 1979-1980, 97% of appointees to both aforementioned courts, and even the Supreme Court, had no opposition.
