President Trump’s startling judicial appointment history will not only reshape the judiciary for a generation, but will likely deny President-elect Joe Biden the chance to put much of his stamp on the courts.
By numbers: Trump took office with 17 vacancies in federal appeals courts, in addition to an open seat in the Supreme Court. Ultimately, he occupied three Supreme Court seats and appointed 54 circuit court judges in a single term: the Senate confined the 54th, a substitute for Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the seventh circuit, this week. President Obama earned a total of 55 during his two terms.
- The appointments will be the most enduring and substantial legacy of the outgoing president.
What follows: There are now only two appeals waiting for the president-elect and he will have no realistic chance of changing the ideological balance of the Supreme Court, currently divided by a conservative majority of 6-3.
- There are 47 vacancies in federal district courts. If Democrats control the Senate, Biden can fill many of those openings.
- But the rulings of those judges would be appealed to the circuit courts that now had Trump nominees, and from there to the Supreme Court, with its extended Conservative majority.
Between lines: If Republicans end up controlling the Senate, Biden may forget to fill almost any important position, especially with progressive or polarizing candidates. But his judicial legacy will be limited even if Democrats take the Senate.
- If there is no work pending, Biden will only be able to fill the vacancies that arise while he is president.
- That means it will likely be largely limited to replacing Liberal judges and, in a 50- to 50-year-old Senate, will have to make safe choices to avoid losing the support of moderate Democrats.