There has been a lot of talk about Trump appointing judges during his term. It's a very big bright spot for his admin. So let's dig into the numbers and compare to Obama and Bush numbers. Per Ballotpedia there are a total of 874 Article 3 judges in the USA.
— unseen1 (@unseen1_unseen) September 15, 2019
This further breaks down into 9 SCOTUS seats, 179 seats on the Appeals courts, 677 seats at the district level and 9 seats on Court of international trade. (Obama and Bush numbers are for all 8 years. Trump's numbers are for 2.75 years.)
— unseen1 (@unseen1_unseen) September 15, 2019
There were a total of 327 article 3 judges appointed by President Bush:
2 SCOTUS Judges (including a Chief justice) (
62 appeals court judges
261 district court judges
2 International trade court judges— unseen1 (@unseen1_unseen) September 15, 2019
There were a total of 329 article 3 judges appointed by President Obama:
2 SCOTUS court judges
55 appeals court judges
268 district court judges
4 international trade court judges— unseen1 (@unseen1_unseen) September 15, 2019
There have been a total of 152 article 3 judges appointed by President Trump(so far):
2 SCOTUS court judges
43 appeals court judges
105 district court judges
2 Internal Trade court judges— unseen1 (@unseen1_unseen) September 15, 2019
Each President appointed 22.2% of the current SCOTUS. Pres Clinton appointed another 22.2% and President Bush the first appointed 11.2%.
For the lower courts retirements and deaths have changed the % and I don't feel like researching how many are still on the courts from each
— unseen1 (@unseen1_unseen) September 15, 2019
President Trump (so far) has been able to appoint:
24% of the appeals court
15.5% of the district courts
22% of the International Trade court.— unseen1 (@unseen1_unseen) September 15, 2019
There are currently 97 vacancies on Article 3 courts that are waiting to be filled with another 13 seats that will be vacant before Trump's term ends. ( 7 appeals court seats, 101 district court seats and 2 international trade court seats)
— unseen1 (@unseen1_unseen) September 15, 2019
Of those 97 vacancies Trump has nominated 35 judges. they are awaiting Senate confirmation ( 2 appeals court and 33 district judges)
If all vacancies are filled before the end of Trump's first term (which I see little reason to suggest they won't be) then….
— unseen1 (@unseen1_unseen) September 15, 2019
…President Trump will have had the following record on judges in his first term (barring any other retirements or deaths of judges):
22% of SCOTUS
27.9% of appeals court
30.4% of district courts
44.4% of International Trade court.— unseen1 (@unseen1_unseen) September 15, 2019
Update: I forgot to mention that the 43 appeal judges appointed by President Trump are the most at this period of time in a term for any President in history. Obama only had 19 at this point, Bush had 27 and Clinton had 26. Next to SCOTUS, appeals courts are the most powerful.
— unseen1 (@unseen1_unseen) September 15, 2019
