Q&A of the Day –Senator Rick Scott & Federal Judicial Confirmations
Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Twitter: @brianmuddradio
Facebook: Brian Mudd https://www.facebook.com/brian.mudd1
Today’s entry: When you recently had Rick Scott on he talked about not much else happening in Washington except for judges. I remember you talking about this last year but I’ve not heard anyone address how many of the courts have been flipped by Trump’s judges.
Bottom Line: I can’t definitively tell you how many courts have “flipped” but I can give you an idea of how significant the record pace of federal judicial confirmations under President Trump have been. There are a total 870 federal judges appointed by the President of the United States. They operate across four divisions of the federal judiciary.
- The Supreme Court
- Federal Court of Appeals
- Federal District courts
- Court of International Trade
Of course, with these judicial seats being lifetime appointments once confirmed – the view of the possible for any president is far less than 870. That’s what makes President Trump’s current pace so impressive. A combination of numerous open judicial seats at the end of the Obama administration – in part due to Republicans controlling the Senate slow rolling many of President Obama’s nominees-along with normal retirements, have created huge opportunities for the president to reshape courts. And he, along with Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, haven’t taken it for granted.
As of this entry, 192 federal judges have been confirmed. That’s 22% of the entire federal footprint a president can directly impact. And in just three years! By comparison, President Obama had 334 confirmations in his entire eight-year term. Were Trump to continue on this pace he’d have more than 500 federal judges confirmed in eight years. The record for any administration is President Reagan’s. He had 402 confirmations. This is even more notable given that Democrats controlled the Senate for his entire Presidency.
As for the question of “flipping” courts. That’s to be determined. As we’ve seen from time to time with justices like Anthony Kennedy- a Reagan appointment and even current Chief Justice John Roberts, of the Affordable Care Act ruling – a president appointing a particular justice doesn’t guarantee an outcome. Based on the early returns from President Trump’s picks however – it does seem like they’ve generally been constitutionalists rather than activists.