Daily Brew: November 15, 2018

November 15, 2018

Today's Brew looks at newly confirmed judges and the judge who will take over for Kavanaugh   Welcome to the Thursday, November 15 Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: Checking in with the federal judiciary: 84 judges confirmed since the inauguration While we’re on the topic… Who will fill Kavanaugh’s former seat? How did candidates endorsed by Trump, Obama, Biden, and Sanders perform in 2018? Checking in with the federal judiciary: 84 judges confirmed since the inauguration The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held nomination hearings for five federal judicial nominees on Tuesday. Which reminded us—What's going in with the federal judiciary? President Trump has announced 178 nominations since taking office. Of those nominations, the U.S. Senate has confirmed 84 federal judges, including two Supreme Court justices. Trump has nominated 42 judges to the U.S. Court of Appeals, the intermediate appellate court of the United States federal courts. The Senate has confirmed 29 of those judges. An average of 16.6 appeals court judges were confirmed by the end of each of the past five presidents’ second year in office: Barack Obama: 16 George W. Bush: 17 Bill Clinton: 19 Ronald Reagan: 19 Jimmy Carter: 12 Additionally, the U.S. Senate has confirmed 53 district court judges nominated by Trump. District courts are the general trial courts on the federal level. Learn more about these judges While we’re on the topic… Who will fill Kavanaugh’s former seat? President Trump announced on Tuesday that he intends to nominate Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Administrator Neomi Rao to fill the vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The vacancy was created following Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to serve on the United States Supreme Court. The U.S. Senate confirmed Rao on July 10, 2017, to serve as the administrator of OIRA, an agency within the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). She is currently on a leave of absence from her position as an associate professor of law at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School, where she founded the Center for the Study of the Administrative State in 2015. As the head of OIRA, Rao has overseen the Trump administration’s regulatory review process as well as its information collection requests, statistical practices, and privacy policies. OIRA’s regulatory review responsibilities include reviewing and coordinating what it deems all significant regulatory actions made by federal agencies. Learn more→ How did candidates endorsed by Trump, Obama, Biden, and Sanders perform in 2018? President Donald Trump (R), former President Barack Obama (D), former Vice President Joe Biden (D), and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) endorsed hundreds of candidates in U.S. congressional and state executive and legislative races. Trump had a 57.6 percent success rate in his general election endorsements, backing 53 winning candidates and 39 losing candidates. Four races are still pending. Obama, who made the most endorsements out of the group, backed 342 candidates in 2018. Among the 315 races that have been called, Obama’s candidates won in 67.9 percent. Biden endorsed 21 candidates. With one race pending, 15 of those candidates won for a success rate of 75 percent. Sanders had a success rate of 44 percent among the 36 called races he endorsed candidates in. Sanders also took positions on seven ballot measures. Two of those ballot measures were approved or defeated in line with what Sanders supported or opposed. See the candidate list→