Trump's judicial appointments set to reshape courts

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - While Washington has its eye unwaveringly focused on the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump, America's chief executive has amassed a staggering number of judicial appointments during his nearly three years in office.

They include his Senate-confirmed Supreme Court nominees -- Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh -- whose confirmations enraptured America's news cycle. But less noticed are the Senate's approval of droves of lower court federal judges that rose to 185 when the chamber confirmed a dozen judges in the days before it adjourned for the holiday recess this month.

That is over one-fifth of all federal court judges, and reportedly eclipses the number of judges appointed by both former President Barack Obama -- 124 -- and George W. Bush -- 169 -- at the same point in their presidencies.

Trump's judicial victories mean whether or not he secures a second presidential term in November his legacy will be felt for generations to come in America's courts.

The judicial posts that he has secured in lockstep with the Republican-controlled Senate are lifetime appointments not limited by mandated term limits, and Trump has near uniformly used them to pack the bench with conservative-leaning judges.

The White House stressed the impact that Trump's appointees will have in November, saying in a statement issued early that month that the average age of circuit court judges Trump has appointed is 50, 10 years younger than Obama's nominees.

And Trump's two Supreme Court nominees are the youngest serving on America's top court, indicating that they could serve long terms on the court that has the final word on many of America's most divisive issues.

The White House further noted that Trump's "historic" level of appointees has tipped the balance of "numerous" lower federal courts to Republican-appointed majorities.

Already, one of Trump's appointees, Kurt Engelhardt, joined a key Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling earlier this month to rule as unconstitutional a central provision of Obama's landmark universal healthcare law.

Engelhardt's position was decisive in the ruling, which sets up a battle on the closely-divided, but conservative-leaning Supreme Court. It will be the third such legal battle over Obama's Affordable Care Act, known sometimes derisively as Obamacare.

And Trump's Supreme Court appointments of both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh have been instrumental in shifting the court to the right with it set to weigh in on some of the most hotly-debated issues in America, from abortion to gun control and Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration executive order in addition to his healthcare law.

And with liberal-leaning Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg's health in question at 86 the president may have yet another opportunity to move the court further to the right. Liberal-leaning Justice Stephen Breyer is not far behind Ginsberg in terms of age, being the second oldest currently service justice at 81.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has overseen the rapid pace of Senate confirmations after holding up Obama's court appointees including a Supreme Court pick that was eventually filled by Gorsuch, has pledged to fill a Supreme Court vacancy should one open during the 2020 election year, despite holding up Obama's pick under the rationale that it would be inappropriate to hold a vote under those circumstances.

McConnell was also responsible for ensuring that dozens of lower court vacancies went unfilled during Obama's final two years.

He boasted in November that in working with Trump "we are changing the federal courts forever."

"Nobody's done more to change the court system in the history of our country than Donald Trump. And Mr. President, we're going to keep on doing it. My motto is leave no vacancy behind," he said at one of Trump's campaign-style rallies.

Trump still has at least one more year to continue filling judicial posts alongside McConnell, and could fill even more should he secure a second term next November with the potential to further alter the future of America's cultural, social and judicial landscapes.