President Donald Trump has had enormous success in shaping the courts. Thomas Jipping and John Malcolm write:
Advocates of a more powerful, political judiciary are opposing current nominees in unprecedented ways. From 1789 through 2016, for example, the Senate confirmed more than 95% of judicial nominees without opposition. That figure has dropped to 25% under the current president.
The Senate had to take a separate vote to end debate on fewer than 4% of Obama’s judicial nominees who were confirmed at this point in his presidency, compared to 80% for Trump.
Despite these and other opposition tactics, as of Sept. 9, Trump has appointed 24% of the entire federal judiciary. More important, he has already appointed 53 judges to the U.S. Court of Appeals, which has the last word on nearly all cases in the federal court system. That constitutes 30% of this middle level of the federal court system, compared to an average of less than 19% at the same point under the previous five presidents.
[Thomas Jipping and John Malcolm, "How the Administration Is Taking Back the Courts," The Daily Signal, September 30]
