but just note that although it sounds like they are ramming through millions of judges and Obama did nothing, this is not the case.
Just as a comparison - from an article in 2014 during his 2nd term -
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Finally, after years of threatening, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) went on the Senate floor in November 2013 and invoked the “nuclear option,” changing the Senate rules to eliminate the filibuster for executive branch and judicial nominees (other than those for the Supreme Court).
A year later, the effect of that change is clear:
The 113th Congress confirmed 132 district and circuit court judges, including 89 this year. That’s the highest single-year total in 20 years, and the highest two-year total since 1980. (That’s particularly impressive considering that this Congress was one of the least productive in history.) On Tuesday night alone, the Senate confirmed 12 nominees. All this means that the once-lagging Obama has now appointed more judges in his first six years (305) than Reagan, Bill Clinton or George W. Bush. And because Obama has gone out of his way to nominate judges from a wide array of backgrounds, the federal bench is more diverse than ever. All in all, it’s an extraordinary turnaround, one that both Obama and Reid deserve credit for.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2014/12/19/the-nuclear-option-transforms-obamas-judicial-legacy/And his final legacy after 8 years from an article from January 2017 -
POLITICS 01/12/2017 07:00 am ET Updated Jan 12, 2017
How Barack Obama Transformed The Nation’s Courts
He filled two SCOTUS seats and made the judiciary more diverse than ever. But the GOP stopped him from doing more.
By Jennifer Bendery
WASHINGTON ― Republicans cannot wait to begin dismantling President Barack Obama’s accomplishments, but there’s one thing they can’t undo, even with full control of Congress and the White House: his judicial legacy.
Obama will leave office with 329 of his judicial nominees confirmed to lifetime posts on federal courts. That includes two U.S. Supreme Court justices and four judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the two most powerful courts in the nation. Because of Obama, Democratic appointees now have a 7-4 advantage on the D.C. panel, and those judges will play a major role in deciding cases during the Trump administration related to environmental regulations, health care, national security, consumer protections and challenges to executive orders.
Obama also tilted the partisan makeup of circuit courts.
Nine of the country’s 13 appeals courts now have majority Democratic appointees, compared with just one when he took office in 2009.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/barack-obama-judicial-legacy_us_586c1944e4b0de3a08f9eb1f
So although there will be some natural turnover and there were still vacancies out there (because some of these courts have dozens of judge "slots" available because they include senior and emeritus judges who can fill in if necessary), there is still a big imprint out there from the Democratic side, which is why you have seen the rulings you have seen (and that's not including the GOP appointees who have ruled against the ridiculousness of the current administration).
Here is the current confirmation list (
53 as of today) -
http://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/judicial-vacancies/confirmation-listing
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