President Donald Trump continues to remake the federal judiciary, despite unprecedented opposition from Democrats in the U.S. Senate. New analysis from the Heritage Foundation shows President Trump's nominees to federal courts have received more "no" votes and delay tactics than any other president. For instance, 71 percent of Trump's judicial nominees have received at least one "no" vote, compared with only 6 percent of all judicial nominees by every other president. The Senate has also forced a cloture vote--an extra vote to end debate before a nominee can receive a final vote--on 97 Trump nominees so far, while the previous five presidents had no more than 3 cloture votes on their nominees in the same time period.
For the president and his supporters, this is just another example of the so-called "resistance" movement that's even stretched to the halls of Congress. "There is an obnoxious increase in the resistance of these judicial appointments, and the only reason is that the Democrats have nothing else to grab onto," says Houston-based conservative attorney Michele Byington. "They've still got an ax to grind over the 2016 election, and so they're just digging their nails in anywhere and any way they can, just out of pure desperation."
What is notable about the numbers is that the opposition to Trump nominees is notably higher than previous presidents of both parties, with even Republican presidents like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush receiving far less pushback on their judicial nominees than Trump. "If we had a President Ted Cruz as opposed to President Donald Trump, I don't foresee this happening," says Byington. "They just don't like Trump, and that's all there is to it."
Nevertheless, Trump has overcome the Democrat resistance thanks to the Republican-controlled Senate led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. To date, Trump has had 146 judges confirmed to federal courts, more than all of his previous five predecessors except Bill Clinton. "At the end of the day, Republicans have got the Senate and these judicial appointees will be confirmed," says Byington. "(Democrats) are just dragging the process out, kicking and screaming all the way there."