By my count, there are currently 50 district-court seats to be filled, and President Trump has made nominations to only 11 of those seats. A remarkable 21 of the district-court seats have been awaiting nominees since Trump took office in January, and 4 more since at least May.
You might think that the problem is recalcitrant Democratic senators who have refused to guarantee positive blue slips for the nominees. But 17 of the 25 seats long awaiting nominees are in states that have two Republican senators, including 7 in Texas alone. (There are an additional 2 vacancies that have recently arisen in district-court seats in Texas.)
I’ll withhold judgment on why things are so slow. But wherever the fault lies, it’s past time for the White House and Republican senators to get moving to fill these seats.
(My totals above include both current vacancies and declared future vacancies.)