January 20, 2026 marks the end of Trump-47’s first year in office.
On January 20, 2025, at the start of his second (non-consecutive) presidential term, Trump had 45 federal (Article III) judicial vacancies. And now, on January 20, 2026, there are 47 such vacancies. (And this includes a vacant appellate judicial position which lacks a nominee.) In other words, Trump has not managed to keep pace with the rate of new vacancies arising in connection with post-inauguration retirements, resignations, senior status, etc. This is not a particularly impressive record as there has been no rush of such retirements, etc.
During this past year, Trump has managed to secure Senate confirmation for 27 nominees to federal judicial positions. During most of that time, Trump had a 53(R)-to-47(D) Senate. That confirmation rate—27 Senate confirmations over the course of his first year—compares favorably with Trump-45’s first year in office. During Trump-45’s first year in office, he secured Senate confirmation for only 23 federal judicial nominees. 27 is an improvement over 23—some 17%. But we should expect some improvement. Trump-45 had only 51 or 52 Senate Republicans, whereas Trump-47 has 53 Republicans. And, Trump-47 is also a former President—so, we should naturally expect some improvement in connection with his prior experience in office.
How does Trump-47’s 27 Senate confirmations for federal judicial positions compare against other recent Presidents’ first year in office? Biden-46 secured 42 Senate judicial confirmations, and Obama-44 (that is, President Obama’s second term) secured 46 such confirmations—including two judges on the U.S. Court of International Trade. Although Obama-44 had a reliable 54 or 55 Senate Democrats, Biden-46 had only an evenly divided 50(D)-to-50(R) Senate (with a Democratic Vice President to break ties). To put it bluntly, Biden-46’s 42 Senate confirmations for federal judicial positions has outpaced Trump-47’s 27 Senate confirmations by over 50%. Moreover, Biden-46, a first term President, secured his 42 Senate judicial confirmations with the thinnest possible Senate “majority”—a majority entirely dependent on each and every member of his party caucus, including two independents caucusing with Democrats, and on his Vice President. Trump, by contrast, has a working majority: a 53(R)-to-47(D) Senate. To put it another way: 27/42 is 64%. When I was in secondary school in the United States, 65% was the standard for a passing grade. Additionally, Trump has nominated or announced prior to nomination a further ten candidates for federal judicial posts. If all of those candidates were to be miraculously confirmed by the Senate today, Trump-47’s productivity would still be have been outpaced by Biden’s.
Trump is rightly focused on the substantive agenda and policies on which he ran for election. But he and all others know that one of the gatekeepers against his implementing that agenda has been, and remains, the federal judiciary. He cannot go to the people and say he has made every effort to implement his promised agenda, and he cannot claim the fault lies with the federal judiciary . . . unless he makes use of all the lawful tools at his disposal, and that includes his power to nominate and to appoint—albeit, subject to Senate advice and consent—federal judges.
To date, this is not something which Trump and his administration have done.
Seth
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Seth Barrett Tillman, ‘Trump-47’s Judicial Appointments Record: A One-Year Retrospective,’ New Reform Club (Jan. 20, 2026, 4:01 PM), <https://reformclub.blogspot.com/2026/01/trump-47s-judicial-appointments-record.html>;
