Trump tweeted on January 26, 2020, about having appointed 191 Judges, which he claims to be a record to this point in a Presidency.
While he has clearly appointed more than 191 judges in total, he has only appointed 187 Judges under Article III, which in the greater scheme of things are the only Judges that matter.
187 total Article III Judges to this point, consisting of 2 Supreme Court Justices, 50 Circuit Judges, 133 District Judges and 2 Trade Court Judges.
Under Article I, he has appointed 11 Judges total. 5 to the United States Court of Federal Claims. 4 to the United States Tax Court. 1 to the United States Court of Military Commission Review. 1 to the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
He has appointed 0 Judges under Article IV.
So perhaps he is counting the Tax Court Judges, the 4 of which would account for the error. But they are Article I and generally when you generically refer to a Judge count, you are referring to Article III Judges. Again, the only ones that really matter from a “legacy” perspective.
I dispute some that are labeled as unqualified though I accept others being labeled thus.
The Federalist Society has picked pretty much 100% of “Trump’s” appointees. A minority of his appointments are Judges picked by Democratic Senators as part of larger deals between them and Trump. In a number of cases, those Judges were previously nominated by Obama.
But of “Trump’s” nominees, the Federalist Society has exclusively picked them out.
I would calculate that one party would have to hold the White House and the Senate for at least 20 years to get reasonably close to appointing 100% of the Judiciary.
The only time that has really happened is during the Roosevelt/Truman era, although for two years the Senate was held by Republicans.
The system essentially prevents either party from getting 100% control of the judiciary.
