Note: There are so many vacancies available for Trump to fill because of the massive blocking of President Obama's appointees by republicans.
By Joan Biskupic, CNN Legal Analyst and Supreme Court Biographer
Updated 8:50 PM ET, Wed November 8, 2017
Tuesday's elections favoring Democrats could give conservative forces more urgency in an area President Donald Trump is already moving on aggressively: reshaping the federal courts.
Trump and his advisers are moving at break-neck speed compared with past presidents. Republicans pushed four conservative US appeals court judges through the Senate last week, and with a total of eight appeals court appointees, Trump has won far more Senate confirmations than his three immediate predecessors did at this point in their presidencies. A hearing on six nominees is scheduled for next week.
The Republican majority, led by Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has been crucial to Trump's effort to move swiftly on the lifetime judicial appointments and please his right-wing base. Judges exert control over myriad social and business issues, from abortion rights to class action litigation.
Public attention naturally focuses on Supreme Court appointments, yet with the nine justices hearing less than 1% of the petitions that reach their door, the regional courts of appeals constitute a powerful last stop for the nation's litigants.
Trump's legal team has taken advantage of the GOP Senate majority while also trying to outpace any major disruption for the executive branch, whether it be a sudden Supreme Court vacancy or more charges arising from Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mueller is exploring possible Trump campaign links to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
For any administration, a Supreme Court opening or major legislative effort -- such as President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in his first term -- can divert attention from key lower court posts. A high court resignation is not a far-fetched prospect these days. Three of the justices are over 75, and Justice Anthony Kennedy, 81, has signaled that he is mulling the possibility of stepping down soon.
Trump already named one new justice, Neil Gorsuch. That opportunity arose because Senate Republicans blocked Obama from filling a vacancy created by the February 2016 death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
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Obama and Clinton both filled one Supreme Court seat in the first year of their first terms; Bush had to wait until his second term for an opening.
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