President Trump and the Politics of Judicial Nominations

Abstract President Trump brought judicial appointments to the pinnacle of political salience while campaigning and in office. He was also the first president to inherit Senate rules making it easier to confirm judicial appointments while past partisan obstruction provided his administration with a backlog of vacancies. How then, did President Trump’s ability to gain Senate confirmation for judicial nominees compare to recent presidents? We find that he was indeed able to fill an historic number of vacancies. However, the administration was not universally successful as key nominations had to be prioritized at the expense of others. Our findings assess Trump’s legacy on judicial appointments and demonstrate the practical tradeoffs newly emerging in appointment politics.