President Donald Trump is leaving a lasting legacy in the federal courts as he fills vacancies left open by the Obama administration.
Republicans could soon fill seven vacancies on the most liberal appeals court in the nation -- what's often referred to as the "Nutty Ninth" or "Ninth Circus."
“What's particularly disturbing about the Ninth is the number of times the Ninth Circuit is reversed unanimously, not a single one of the nine Supreme Court justices thinking the Ninth was correct, and the number of times they don't even need to take briefing and a hearing on it,” says Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation.
Trump's appointments will impact decisions decades into the future.
“Hopefully it'll bring things back into balance a little bit because Obama did make a lot of appointments and had a profound impact, particularly in the Fourth Circuit and D.C. Circuit which shifted considerably to the left from where they were,” says Scheidegger.
“The judicial appointments, because they are lifetime appointments are among the longest lasting things a president does.”
But just how many appointments Trump makes could hinge on November's midterm elections. Democrats so far are determined to block confirmations to limit the damage.