Editorials & Other Articles

mahatmakanejeeves

(57,488 posts) Mon Feb 4, 2019, 11:32 AM Feb 2019

Two years in, Trump's appeals court confirmations are at a historic high point

The next time anyone asks, "why do Republicans put up with him?" this is the answer.

David Fahrenthold Retweeted

Two years in, Trump’s appeals court confirmations are at a historic high point

Link to tweet

Legal Issues
Two years in, Trump’s appeals court confirmations at a historic high point

By Ann E. Marimow
February 4 at 6:30 AM

President Trump has installed a historic number of federal appeals court judges for this point of a presidency. ... But the immediate effect on the composition of the courts across the country is modest — and the rapid pace is unlikely to continue because of a limited number of remaining open seats.

The Senate confirmation of Trump’s 30 appeals court judges is more than any other president’s two years into a term. ... His picks for the nation’s 13 circuit courts, one step below the Supreme Court, predominantly are male and less diverse than those tapped by his predecessor.

They also include younger nominees, including a 36-year-old former clerk to Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch, which means Trump’s conservative imprint on the federal judiciary will endure through cases involving state gun regulations, the environment, immigration and abortion.

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Ann Marimow covers legal affairs for The Washington Post. She joined The Post in 2005 and has covered state government and politics in California, New Hampshire and Maryland. Follow https://twitter.com/amarimow

4 replies

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Highlight:

Two years in, Trump's appeals court confirmations are at a historic high point (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Feb 2019 OP

Which I'm guessing is because The Turtle kept a backlog for whoever replaced Obama mr_lebowski Feb 2019 #1

Might be. Igel Feb 2019 #4

This scenario has worried me for a long, long time... pangaia Feb 2019 #2

Special thanks to the "Anybody But Hillary" left Blue_Tires Feb 2019 #3

mr_lebowski

(33,643 posts)

1. Which I'm guessing is because The Turtle kept a backlog for whoever replaced Obama

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Mon Feb 4, 2019, 11:45 AM

Feb 2019

Praying for a rich white conservative to win in 2016, so that they could vacancies he held for them, as he did for Gorsuch.

Igel

(35,317 posts)

4. Might be.

Reply to mr_lebowski (Reply #1)

Mon Feb 4, 2019, 06:54 PM

Feb 2019

Might just be emphasis. If the pace is unlikely to continue, it's likely that he focused on filling those. He's way behind the average in appointing lower-ranking judges.

Might just be like looking at how one horse fares 1/2 of the way through a race versus another horse at the midway point in a different race. Some will be behind at the midpoint and pull ahead in the last half; some will be ahead at the halfway mark and then wind up trailing as they cross the finish line.

Every president of the last few end with a bunch of unfilled positions. Some's partisanship, some's just those that the Senate didn't want to confirm or didn't get around to. The rest of the bias is distribution.