Trump, GOP poised to add more conservatives to federal courts

WASHINGTON — Republicans will have a wide runway to confirm conservative federal judges and fill any openings on the Supreme Court in the new Congress, with Donald Trump set to return to the White House and a GOP majority in the Senate.

The shift in power from Tuesday’s election will give the 78-year-old Trump an opportunity to add to the 234 lifetime judicial appointments he secured during his first term and further cement his influence on the federal courts.

Trump will likely find a strong ally in Senate Republicans, who have made judicial confirmations a priority and now obtained at least a 52-seat majority, with several Senate races yet to be called.

A bolstered Senate majority would allow Republican leadership to sidestep any objections from more moderate members of their conference, such as Susan Collins, R-Maine, or Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

Casey Burgat, director of the legislative affairs program at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management, said the presidential win and the Senate GOP majority is a chance to appoint a new generation of Trump judges.

“Given his second term and the sizable majority within the Senate, they’re going to fill those seats, and they’re going to do it quickly,” he said.

John P. Collins Jr., a law professor at George Washington University, said that when it’s all said and done, Trump could be responsible for appointing half of the federal judiciary.

The Trump victory also could give the GOP opportunities to solidify conservative control on the Supreme Court, if Republican-appointed Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Clarence Thomas decide to retire. Both are in their mid-70s.

“I would bet the farm that both Alito and Thomas will step down in the next year or two, and Donald Trump will get to appoint their replacement,” Collins said, adding those successors will be at least as conservative “but 30 years younger.”

During his first term, Trump appointed three justices to the Supreme Court.

At the lower levels, judicial nominees during Trump’s first term were “significantly” more conservative than prior Republican administrations, Collins said, and the individuals were much more homogenous in terms of race — often white and male — and experience compared to Biden nominees.

Collins forecasted that second-term Trump nominees will be more conservative compared to his first term, as it appears the former president has not kept a strong relationship with the mainstream conservative legal movement represented by organizations like The Federalist Society.

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the 91-year-old Iowa Republican who plans to be chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the new year, posted on social media Wednesday that he looked forward to working with Trump on confirming judges, along with issues such as reducing crime and border security.

“In the Republican Senate Majority Ill be hard at work fighting 2 restore law&order + make America SAFE again esp thru my leadership on the Judic Cmte We will hit the ground running on Jan 3,” Grassley posted on X, the site formerly known as Twitter.

A spokesperson for Grassley said in a statement that the senator “has a proven track record of success, having confirmed an historic number of constitutionally-sound judges, and he continues to set the gold standard for oversight and investigation.”

Grassley led the panel for four years across the Obama and Trump administrations, during which he played a role in establishing the current conservative-controlled Supreme Court bench by helping to stall then-judge Merrick B. Garland’s nomination and later overseeing the nominations of Justices Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh.

The conservative court in recent years has overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, ruled presidents are immune from federal prosecution for official acts and curtailed the power of federal agencies to implement laws passed by Congress.