COURTS/NOMINATIONS/SENATE/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “With another judge expected to be confirmed Tuesday [7-31-18] by the Senate, President Trump and Senate Republicans are leaving an ever-expanding imprint on the judiciary, nudging powerful appeals courts rightward through a determined effort to nominate and confirm a steady procession of young conservative jurists. The confirmation of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court would tilt the balance of the nation’s highest court, but, already, the president and the Senate have proved strikingly efficient at installing judges to lifetime appointments on appeals courts that handle far more cases. The expected appeals court confirmation on Tuesday of Britt C. Grant, 40, a Georgia Supreme Court justice who was once a clerk for Judge Kavanaugh, would be Mr. Trump’s 24th circuit court appointment — more than any other president had secured at this point in his presidency since the creation of the regional circuit court system in 1891, according to an analysis of judicial records by The New York Times. The Senate did not confirm President Barack Obama’s 24th nominee to the regional circuit courts until the fourth year of his presidency. Of the 167 spots on those courts nationwide, Trump nominees already fill more than one of every eight, though the majority of those nominees replaced judges who were also appointed by Republican presidents.”
-Thomas Kaplan, “Trump Is Putting Indelible Conservative Stamp on Judiciary,” The New York Times online, July 31, 2018