Donald Trump judicial appointment controversies

Donald Trump, President of the United States from 2017 to 2021, entered office with a significant number of judicial vacancies,[1][2] including a Supreme Court vacancy due to the death of Antonin Scalia in February 2016. During the first eight months of his presidency, he nominated approximately 50 judges, a significantly higher number than any other recent president had made by that point in his presidency.[3] By June 24, 2020, 200 of his Article III nominees had been confirmed by the United States Senate.[4] According to multiple media outlets, Trump significantly impacted the composition of the Supreme Court and lower courts during his tenure.[5][6][7][8][9]

As of February 3, 2020, the American Bar Association (ABA) had rated 220 of Trump's nominees. Of these nominees, 187 were rated "well-qualified," 67 were rated "qualified," and 10 were rated "not qualified."[10] Seven of the nine individuals rated as "not qualified" were confirmed by the Senate.[11]

According to Vox's Ian Millhiser, "There’s no completely objective way to measure legal ability, but a common metric used by legal employers to identify the most gifted lawyers is whether those lawyers secured a federal clerkship, including the most prestigious clerkships at the Supreme Court. Approximately 40 percent of Trump’s appellate nominees clerked for a Supreme Court justice, and about 80 percent clerked on a federal court of appeals. That compares to less than a quarter of Obama’s nominees who clerked on the Supreme Court, and less than half with a federal appellate clerkship. In other words, based solely on objective legal credentials, the average Trump appointee has a far more impressive résumé than any past president’s nominees."[12] As of July 2020, the judges appointed by Trump are "85% white and 76% male; less than 5% are African-American,” as a result of which the federal judiciary has become "less diverse" compared to previous administrations, according to an analysis by The Conversation.[13]

  1. ^ "Vacancy Summary for January 2017". United States Courts. January 6, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  2. ^ Kim, Seung Min (July 14, 2016). "McConnell's historic judge blockade". Politico. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  3. ^ Smith, Allan (September 9, 2017). "'The dogma lives loudly within you': The battle over Trump's effort to remake the courts in his image is starting to heat up". Business Insider. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  4. ^ Bendery, Jennifer (June 24, 2020). "Trump Notches His 200th Lifetime Federal Judge". HuffPost. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  5. ^ Rowan, Nicholas (December 29, 2020). "Trump leaves behind a transformed judicial branch". Washington Examiner. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  6. ^ Sherman, Mark; Freking, Kevin; Daly, Matthew (December 28, 2020). "Trump's impact on courts likely to last long beyond his term". Associated Press. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  7. ^ Rust, Max (October 25, 2020). "How Trump Reset the Federal Judiciary". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  8. ^ Hurley, Lawrence (January 15, 2021). "On guns, abortion and voting rights, Trump leaves lasting mark on U.S. judiciary". Reuters. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  9. ^ Kendall, Brent (January 31, 2021). "Trump Appointees Poised to Influence Legal Outcomes for Decades to Come". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  10. ^ "ABA ratings during the Trump administration". Ballotpedia. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
  11. ^ Porter, Tom (December 12, 2018). "Trump Is Rushing Through 'Unqualified' Judges Faster Than Any Other President". Newsweek. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  12. ^ Millhiser, Ian (September 29, 2020). "What Trump has done to the courts, explained". Vox. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  13. ^ Waltenburg, Eric N.; Solberg, Rorie (October 8, 2020). "Trump and McConnell's mostly white male judges buck 30-year trend of increasing diversity on the courts". The Conversation. Retrieved October 15, 2020.