COURTS/SENATE/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump is racking up federal judicial appointments, and not just to the Supreme Court, where his second nominee, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, is set for confirmation hearings this week. So far, he has filled 60 seats on the federal district courts, the courts of appeals and the Supreme Court. Mr. Trump came into office with more than 100 judicial vacancies, and relaxed Senate rules on confirmations have allowed him to fill them quickly. Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, has said confirming Mr. Trump’s nominees is his ‘top priority.’ Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation would most likely shift the nation’s highest court to the right, the pinnacle of conservative efforts to reshape the federal bench. But on the lower courts, Mr. Trump’s impact has been more muted. Mr. Trump’s 26 appointments to the appeals courts have raised the overall number of Republican appointees, and if he fills the 13 existing vacancies, the majority of judges on the appellate level will have been appointed by a Republican president. But he has fallen short of ‘flipping’ the balance of appointees on any individual court. He has strengthened the existing conservative majorities on four courts, but eight courts still count a majority of judges who were appointed by Democratic presidents. The 11th Circuit is now an even split.”
–Jasmine C. Lee, “Trump Could ‘Flip’ the Supreme Court. His Impact on the Lower Courts Is Less Clear.,” The New York Times online, Spetember 4, 2018