Because many conservatives are split on their loyalty to Trump, they often disregard this fact. Meanwhile, liberals seem to see it clearly and are opining about how awful that is.
Neither of these reactions makes complete sense, although I can understand the left’s alarmism somewhat. However, it’s the president’s job to fill vacancies. Not only has Trump appointed more judges to the federal judiciary than anyone thought he would, he has appointed more than Presidents George H.W. Bush or Barack Obama did by this time in their respective presidencies.
Not only did Trump appoint Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, he’s also appointed 50 judges to the courts of appeal—and he’s still got another year of his term left. And Trump hasn’t just appointed a bevy of judges to the courts of appeal; by any metric, he’s appointed above-average attorneys with federal or Supreme Court clerkships under their belts, ensuring these are some of the most qualified folks to be judges the field of law has to offer.
Millhiser wrote, “[Based] solely on objective legal credentials, the average Trump appointee has a far more impressive résumé than any past president’s nominees.”
Nevermind that this is one of the tasks of the Senate, and that it’s the only governing body that can approve judges, per the Constitution; Democrats prefer to whine about it anyway. (Also, nevermind the fact that if Hillary Clinton had won the election, Democrats would be approving her appointments in a similar way.)
Anyone who has studied the judicial branch of the government knows that the appellate court is where policy is often made, and if you’ve been keeping an eye on the cases sifting through the courts, you'll know that, at any given time, there are dozens of important cases these judges rule on that affect the lives of thousands of people.
While many people were unabashedly pro-Trump because he was a businessman or anti-establishment, or simply a candidate that defied political norms, I voted for Trump for precisely the reasons Millhiser penned in his column on judges.
The legacy of Trump’s presidency likely will be examined many different ways, but in terms of judicial appointments, it’s hard to see how conservatives can ignore the quality and quantity of incredible attorneys he has appointed to the federal bench.