Now to paraphrase the late Paul Harvey, on to “the rest of the story.”
As in the OP, Biden did well, outpacing Trump overall.
But interestingly, we have fallen farther behind.
When Biden took office, Trump had managed to whittle down the total number of Article III vacancies to 46, a low for recent years. 2 on the Courts of Appeals, 43 on the District Courts and 1 on the Trade Court.
As of today, 81 Article III vacancies exist, 9 on the Courts of Appeals, 70 on the District Courts and 2 on the Trade Court.
The answer is that Judges are taking senior status at a blistering pace as well, likely in an effort to allow their successors to be nominated and confirmed while the Democrats control the Presidency and Senate.
This always happens, of course, and Judges of both parties have always done it.
However, the shock of Trump’s successes and the fact that Trump was able to fill so many judgeships has likely sparked this much heavier than usual race for the exit.
Of course, it gives Biden a lot more seats to fill and makes it much more likely that he may ultimately break Trump’s single term total and very possible may break Jimmy Carter’s record for most Judges appointed in a single Presidential term.
Ironically, Republican control of the House actually HELPS Biden in this regard. Because Democrats know most legislation passed will die in the House, they won’t waste time on legislation and instead will devote that time to firing out Judges as fast as humanly possible.
The combination of record number of vacancies, Democratic control of the Senate and Republican control of the House likely bode extremely well for Biden’s Judge prospects.