With latest appellate confirmation, Trump has appointed 200 federal judges
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With the confirmation Wednesday of Cory Wilson to a federal appeals court, President Donald Trump has appointed 200 federal judges.
Every federal appeals court vacancy has been filled, helping fulfill U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s pledge to leave no vacancy behind.
The New York Times, the Washington Post and the Huffington Post have coverage. How Appealing links to additional stories.
McConnell called the achievement “a victory for the rule of law and for the Constitution itself.”
Wilson was confirmed by a 52-48 vote to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans. Wilson is a former Mississippi legislator, where he was outspoken about Democratic initiatives, and a state court judge. Opponents have criticized his opposition to the Affordable Care Act and his support for voter ID laws.
A majority of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary had rated Wilson well-qualified for the 5th Circuit.
Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, told the New York Times that the push for confirmations has changed the makeup of three circuits from a majority of Democratic appointees to a Republican-appointed majority.
Trump has appointed 53 appeals judges who won confirmation in his first term, while it took President Barack Obama two terms to win confirmation of 55 appeals judges.
The last president who confirmed more judges at this time in his first term was Jimmy Carter, who had 239 confirmed judges at this point, according to the Huffington Post.
None of Trump’s confirmed appellate judges are Black, and only one is Latino, according to Bloomberg Law. The last president who appointed no Black people to federal appeals courts in his full first term was Richard Nixon.
Trump has appointed several Asian Americans to federal appeals courts, giving him an estimated 15% total of appellate appointments who are people of color.
