Federal court appointments by president and party (November 2018)

November 30, 2018
By Ballotpedia staff

There are 782 judges currently appointed to serve in the federal courts. Eight different presidents have appointed at least one of these judges. Eighty-six (11.0 percent) have been appointed by Donald Trump, 334 (42.7 percent) by Barack Obama, 217 (27.8 percent) by George W. Bush, 103 (13.2 percent) by Bill Clinton, 18 (2.3 percent) by George H.W. Bush, 21 (2.7 percent) by Ronald Reagan, one (0.1 percent) by Jimmy Carter, and two (0.3 percent) by Gerald Ford.

Overall, Republican presidents have appointed 344 (44.0 percent) and Democratic presidents appointed 438 (56.0 percent).

Differences by court type

What if you break it down by the type of federal court?

There are nine Supreme Court justices. Democratic presidents appointed four (44.4 percent) and Republican presidents appointed five (55.6 percent) of them.
There are currently 564 District Court judges. Democratic presidents appointed 328 (58.2 percent) and Republican presidents appointed 236 (41.8 percent) of them.
There are currently 167 Circuit Court judges. Democratic presidents appointed 83 (49.7 percent) and Republican presidents appointed 84 (50.3 percent) of them.
There are currently 42 subject-matter jurisdiction court judges, such as those who serve on the Tax Court or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Democratic presidents appointed 23 (54.8 percent) and Republican presidents appointed 19 (45.2 percent) of them.