Potent legacy.... Being a stupid shithead.......

The end of Trump’s most potent legacy

Democrats’ romp wiped away the president’s chance at muscling through many more judicial nominees.

By Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney

Democrats’ sweeping victories Tuesday night will soon bring to a halt one of President Donald Trump’s most important achievements: remaking the federal judiciary.

Democrats may even have some hope of chipping away at the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority, depending on the number of Senate seats they ultimately pick up and whether a vacancy arises.

Trump has already, over the course of his two terms, appointed nearly 300 judges who, collectively, will pull the federal bench to the right for a generation. His second-term judges, in particular, have often proven to be outliers even among the conservative judiciary.

But the lame-duck president will be able to confirm few, if any, new judges once Democrats formally take over the Senate in January.

“Trump will not be able to appoint any justices or judges during his last two years in office (absent one-sided deal in favor of Dems),” veteran conservative courtwatcher Ed Whelan wrote on X Wednesday.

In addition, Democrats’ Senate gains — particularly in longtime conservative strongholds — could impact the judiciary there for decades.

Assuming the Senate maintains its longstanding “blue slip” rule giving senators veto power over judicial nominees in their state, newly elected Democrats will have the ability to block appointments in states like Texas, Kansas and South Carolina until 2033 — even if the GOP manages to regain control of the chamber and a Republican keeps the White House in 2029.

Ironically, it was an unreturned Republican “blue slip” that may have helped contribute to the party’s midterm losses. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) is narrowly trailing in her too-close-to-call race against Scott Colom, a Democrat she blocked from the bench in 2023 after his nomination by President Joe Biden.

The likely logjam has sparked another round of speculation that a conservative Supreme Court justice might resign in the coming days to allow a lame-duck confirmation. But the two oldest justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, have signaled that they don’t plan to step down now.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis predicted Tuesday that after the lame-duck period ends, Republicans “probably” won’t have the numbers to confirm a conservative justice until at least 2033, given the daunting math the party faces for retaking the upper chamber.

“Chance of confirming a worthy successor to Justice Thomas and/or Alito during President Trump’s term: Zero,” he said.

However, Republicans are hoping to jam through a handful of judicial nominees before the end of the year, two of whom played controversial roles in targeting Trump nemesis and former FBI Director James Comey. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to hold at least two hearings this month in a bid to get more Trump appointees confirmed before Democrats take control early next year.

On the House side, the looming Democratic takeover means an abrupt end to the half dozen attempts conservative members made to impeach judges who ruled against the Trump administration in various court fights since Trump returned to office last year.

GOP leaders never seriously entertained those impeachment calls, despite vocal support from Trump and prominent allies like Elon Musk.