At the outset of this year, just after Donald Trump handed control of the Senate to Democrats, I presented what I saw as the three big questions for judicial appointments in 2021. On top of my two posts earlier today on President Biden’s judicial nominations, I’ll provide my answers to those questions.

“1. Will another Supreme Court vacancy arise?”

A Supreme Court vacancy of course did not arise, so we did not see which candidate President Biden would select to fulfill his promise that his first Supreme Court nominee would be a black woman. I doubt that the pressure on Justice Breyer to retire had any effect, but if it did, it probably backfired.

“2. Will many new vacancies open up on the federal appellate courts?”

I forecast that most of the 40 or so federal appellate judges who were appointed by Democratic presidents and who were eligible to retire or take senior status would do so “early this year.” In fact, while most have done so by now, very few did so in the first half of the year. So my prediction that Biden would trounce Trump’s total appellate nominees confirmed in the first year of his presidency turned out to be wrong. In fact, Biden fell one short of Trump’s total of twelve.

“3. Will the Biden White House make nominations expeditiously?”

Biden announced his first judicial nominations on March 30 and delivered new batches of nominees—nearly seventy in total—on a fairly regular basis. So I think that the White House clearly succeeded overall on this measure.

One striking exception is David Tatel’s D.C. Circuit seat. Judge Tatel announced on February 11 that he would take senior status, but over the ensuing nine months the White House failed to make a nomination to his seat. I suspect that there is a lot of wrangling with Hispanic activists, who complained early about being underrepresented in Biden’s picks.