EDITORIAL: Donald Trump and the federal courts

You might not know it from the sea of negative press coverage involving the White House, but President Donald Trump can tout some significant accomplishes as 2017 draws to a close. Tax reform, regulatory relief and an improving economy are all in the White House’s favor.

And flying somewhat under the radar is the president’s progress in leaving his mark on the federal courts.

On Dec. 14, the Senate confirmed James Ho for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. As the Washington Times reported, Judge Ho was the third federal appeals court judge the Senate confirmed that week, and the 19th of President Trump’s appointees to be confirmed overall. That pace puts Mr. Trump well ahead of the 14 appointees that President Barack Obama had won by the end of his first year in office.

Mr. Trump faced more than 100 judicial vacancies when he entered the Oval Office, including one on the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump nominee Judge Neil M. Gorsuch was named to that seat, and the president has since followed up that appointment with more than 50 nominees for the federal courts — nominees that are in the “originalist” mold of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

“It’s been thrilling to see the types of judges picked by this administration — some of the brightest legal minds out there — and we’re thrilled particularly in the circuit court where this administration has had the freest hand to chose people,” Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director the Judicial Crisis Network in Washington, D.C., told the Houston Chronicle.

Mr. Severino told the Chronicle that the White House has named star court judges, academics and “people who are the rising legal stars” who all hold a principled commitment to respect the intent of the Constitution. As Jeffrey Toobin argued in The New Yorker, Mr. Trump’s commitment to keeping his campaign promises regarding judicial selections highlights how conservatives care more than liberals do when it comes to getting “their people”on the bench.

Mr. Toobin cites a report by Business Insider that Mr. Trump nominated 18 people for district judgeship vacancies, and 14 for circuit courts and the Court of Federal Claims. During that same period in Mr. Obama’s first term, he nominated just four district judges and five appeals court judges. Including U.S. attorneys, Mr. Trump nominated a total of 55 men and women. Mr. Obama nominated just 22.

Mr. Trump is, of course, benefiting from the Democrat gambit in 2013 to eliminate the filibuster for judicial appointments. But in the end, his commitment to nominating judges that respect the Constitution’s protections for individual liberty and its limitations on federal power may well be his most lasting legacy.