(RepublicanInformer.com)- One of President Donald Trump’s legacies is sure to be his impact on federal courts throughout the United States.
In addition to nominating and then having confirmed three justices on the Supreme Court, the president appointed more than 230 judges to various federal courts.
One of Trump’s biggest campaign promises was to stick with judicial appointees who would please his conservative base. It was one of the biggest keys that ended up winning over some of his Republican doubters before the 2016 presidential election.
Once Trump took office, he worked hand-in-hand with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to get a list of conservative judges nominated and then appointed to positions throughout the country.
President Trump didn’t care one bit about any of the criticism he and McConnell faced from Democrats who weren’t happy with the precision at which the system operated.
McConnell himself has been very pleased with how it’s all gone. He said:
“I think it’s far and away the most consequential thing I’ve ever been involved in. And it’s the most long-lasting accomplishment of the current administration, by far.”
Jonathan Adler, who is a law professor at Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University School of Law, talked about Trump’s impact in more detail. He said:
“Trump has basically done more than any president has done in a single term since (President Jimmy) Carter to put his stamp on the judiciary.”
During the Carter administration, Congress created roughly 150 new judgeships.
It isn’t just the sheer number of judges who Trump appointed to federal benches. It’s also the lasting impact they will have.
All the federal judges hold lifetime positions. And since Trump selected a number of younger judges to fill the positions, including several who are in their 30s, they are likely to serve for decades. It’s possible that all three people who Trump selected for the Supreme Court — Amy Coney Barrett (48 years old), Neil Gorsuch (53) and Brett Kavanaugh (55) — could serve for 30 years or more.
William O. Douglas holds the record having served the longest on the high court — 36 years, seven months and eight days. The liberal justice was appointed under Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 and served until 1975.
Trump’s appointees appear on some vital court’s, too. Almost a third of all his appointees serve on a federal court of appeals.
What’s most significant isn’t the sheer number of appointees, or the courts to which they were appointed. It’s the fact that Trump stuck to selecting judges who are dedicated to conservative ideals. This includes protection religious rights, gun rights, fighting against abortion and a lot of other cultural issues.
This isn’t just theoretical, though. An independent study by Lisa Holmes, Kenneth Manning and Robert Carp compared decisions from Trump’s appointees to more than 117,000 opinions that were published since 1932. Their conclusions:
“Trump has appointed judges who exhibit a distinct decision-making pattern that is, on the whole, significantly more conservative than previous presidents.”
