Can't help but laugh at the R line that impeachment and investigations prevented Trump from prepping

[VOX]

29. Unfortunately, they (he) did. 51 federal judges lifetime-appointed to date.

Almost everything Republicans are getting is coming from Trump’s executive orders and appointments. The federal judgeships are particularly troubling, as they are ALL youngish, far-right-wing clones, set to serve for a lifetime.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/us/trump-appeals-court-judges.amp.html
A Conservative Agenda Unleashed on the Federal Courts
The New York Times
By Rebecca R. Ruiz, Robert Gebeloff, Steve Eder and Ben Protess
Published March 14, 2020

-President Trump has appointed judges to the federal appeals courts at a record-setting pace.
-The Trump appointees are far less diverse than Mr. Obama’s, with two-thirds of them white men.
-The new judges have been selected for their rock-solid conservative credentials, including at least seven that had previous jobs with Mr. Trump’s campaign or his administration.
-All but eight had ties to the Federalist Society, a legal group with views once considered on “the fringe.”
-Now, as he seeks a second term, Mr. Trump can boast of having named more than a quarter of all judges on the appeals courts, 51 to date.

President Trump’s imprint on the nation’s appeals courts has been swift and historic. He has named judges with records on a range of issues important to Republicans — and to his re-election.
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As Mr. Trump seeks re-election, his rightward overhaul of the federal judiciary — in particular, the highly influential appeals courts — has been invoked as one of his most enduring accomplishments. While individual nominees have drawn scrutiny, The New York Times conducted a deep examination of all 51 new appellate judges to obtain a collective portrait of the Trump-populated bench.

The review shows that the Trump class of appellate judges, much like the president himself, breaks significantly with the norms set by his Democratic and Republican predecessors, Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

The lifetime appointees — who make up more than a quarter of the entire appellate bench — were more openly engaged in causes important to Republicans, such as opposition to gay marriage and to government funding for abortion.

They more typically held a political post in the federal government and donated money to political candidates and causes. Just four had no discernible political activity in their past, and several were confirmed in spite of an unfavorable rating from the American Bar Association — the first time that had happened at the appellate level in decades.
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When ruling on cases, they have been notably more likely than other Republican appointees to disagree with peers selected by Democratic presidents, and more likely to agree with those Republican appointees, suggesting they are more consistently conservative. Among the dozen or so judges that most fit the pattern, The Times found, are three Mr. Trump has signaled were on his Supreme Court shortlist.
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