While the media focused heavily on the string of executive orders signed by President Trump during his first 100 days in office, efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, as well as foreign policy measures in Syria, North Korea, and China, one of the most powerful tools the presidency affords the president to shift policy nationwide is the ability to nominate federal court judges.
President Trump’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court did garner much attention, yet the nearly 130 remaining federal court vacancies have received precious little air time, despite the role played by courts, particularly the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in blocking Trump’s executive orders limiting entry into the US from countries deemed hotbeds of terrorism.
With 129 additional federal court vacancies at the beginning of his presidency, beyond the Supreme Court vacancy filled by Gorsuch, President Trump is poised to push the judiciary to the right – including the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Of the 129 vacancies, 20 are on federal appeals courts, 101 in US District Courts, 2 on powerful 9-member International Trade Court, and 6 on the 16-member Federal Claims Court.
Four of the vacancies on the US Court of Appeals are in the Ninth Circuit Court – a court known for its decades-old tradition of left-leaning judicial activism.
Excluding semi-retired Senior Judges, the court currently includes 18 Democratic appointees and just 7 judges picked by Republican presidents, along with 4 vacancies. Two of the four vacant seats were left by Democratic appointees, giving Trump the opportunity to reduce the stark imbalance on the court.
On Monday, the White House nominated the first 10 appointees to fill the 129 vacancies. Among the nominees were Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras and Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen, both of whom had been considered to fill Antonin Scalia’s seat on the US Supreme Court.
Conservatives praised Trump’s latest judicial nominees, saying they were consistent with the president’s selection of Neil Gorsuch earlier this year.
"President Trump is building on the success of his nomination of Justice Gorsuch with an outstanding new slate of nominees for the lower federal courts,” said Judicial Crisis Network director Carrie Severino.
“When it comes to fulfilling his campaign promise to appoint strong, principled judges, Trump is knocking it out of the park."