Older Judges and Vacant Seats Give Trump Huge Power to Shape American Courts -<br />Get the Upshot in your Inbox<br />By JOSH KATZ FEB. 14, 2017<br />In the weeks since taking office, President Trump has derided court decisions as “ridiculous”<br />and “disgraceful,” called the legitimacy of federal judges into question and encouraged people to blame the courts in the event of another terrorist attack.<br />But Mr. Trump could soon find himself responsible for appointing a greater share of federal court judges than any first-term president in 40 years, in large part<br />because of a growing number of older judges and a stack of vacancies on the federal courts.<br />Trump has been given quite the opportunity,” Mr. Malcolm said, noting<br />that there were about twice the number of vacancies on the federal bench as there were when Mr. Obama took office — “roughly an eighth of the judiciary<br />After Jimmy Carter took office, Congress established 152 new federal judgeships, expanding the federal judiciary by nearly 30 percent<br />and allowing Mr. Carter to stack the federal courts despite a presidency that lasted only one term.<br />There are 870 Article III federal court judgeships, the vast majority on district courts or appeals courts like the one<br />that recently upheld a halt on Mr. Trump’s immigration ban.<br />The most prominent example was the refusal to vote on Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court,<br />but the tactic extended to Mr. Obama’s lower court nominees as well.
