A tweet thread of mine today:
1. There are 179 authorized federal appellate seats. As of today, 177 are filled. There are 91 seats held by appointees of Republican presidents and 86 by appointees of Democratic presidents. (I’m counting the very liberal Roger Gregory as a GWB appointee. Clinton recess-appointed him, but Bush appointed him to his lifetime seat. The Federal Judicial Center website lists him as both a Clinton and a GWB appointee.)
2. Senior judges also contribute a lot. There are 125 of them. 69 are R appointees, 56 are D appointees.
3. Although the overall composition of the federal courts is divided very evenly, some circuits are lopsided. All 5 of the First Circuit’s current judges are appointees of Democratic presidents. (Trump’s nominee Joshua Dunlap will make it 5-1.) The D.C. Circuit has 7D 4R, and the Federal Circuit has 8D 4R. On the other hand, Fifth Circuit is 12R 5D, Sixth Circuit is 10R 6D, and Eighth Circuit is remarkable 10R 1D.
4. 100 of the 177 sitting judges were appointed over the past 8 years: 56 by Trump, 44 by Biden. (My totals exclude ACB and KBJ, who have of course been elevated out of the appellate seats to which Trump and Biden appointed them.)
5. For presidents prior to Trump and Biden, here are their total number of appointed appellate judges still sitting in active seats (and in parens the number in senior status):
Nixon: 0 (2)
Ford: 0 (2)
Carter: 0 (9)
Reagan: 5 (30) — The 5 are Easterbrook, Edith Jones, Pauline Newman, Jerry Smith, and Harvie Wilkinson
George HW Bush: 4 (21) — The 4 are Karen Henderson, James Loken, Alan Lourie, and Paul Niemeyer
Clinton: 8 (35) — Here too, I count Roger Gregory as GWB appointee
George W Bush: 26 (19)
Obama: 34 (12)