President Joe Biden could wind up appointing more federal judges than former President Donald Trump, FiveThirtyEight has reported.
Holding on to the Senate majority enables Democrats to continue to confirm Biden's judicial nominations, the outlet said.
A total of 94 Biden judicial nominees have been confirmed to district and appellate courts as of Dec. 23. The number compares to Trump’s 83 at this stage of his presidency.
Currently, there are 79 open seats on the federal bench with another 30 considered as upcoming vacancies.
If Biden fills all of these seats and if Senate Democrats confirm them, it will give the president 203 judicial vacancies filled, compared to 228 vacancies filled by Trump.
But the website noted there are 85 judges who will be eligible to retire in 2023 and 2024. In addition, the number does not take into account unforeseen circumstances where a judge steps down for health and other reasons.
"In some ways, our courts are more divided than they’ve ever been," said Chad Westerland, a political science professor at the University of Arizona who studies the federal courts. "You have judges that are coming from entirely different political ecosystems — and who will enact policies that follow the ideologies of the major national parties."
FiveThirtyEight noted Biden is replacing mostly district court judges, with lower-impact judicial clout. By comparison, the appeals court wields power over entire regions.
After the midterms, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., vowed the Senate would continue to push for Democrat judges.
"Senate Democrats have been committed to restoring balance to the federal judiciary with professionally and personally diverse judges," he said. "With two more years of a Senate Democratic majority, we will build on our historic pace of judicial confirmations and ensure the federal bench better reflects the diversity of America."
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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