One of the most frequent questions posed in response to articles regarding decisions by federal judges is: Who appointed him/her? In theory, that shouldn’t matter — blindfolded Lady Justice and all that. In practice, all too often, it seems that it does.
But…maybe not quite as much as people assume. I decided it might be interesting to take a closer look at some of the statistics regarding the federal judiciary. Some of those stats will come as no surprise. Others, though, well, see what you think.
Supreme Partisanship?
First, let’s start with the Big Kahuna: the Supreme Court. We’re barrelling headlong into “big” decision season, and the court is also dabbling in some emergency docket intrigue, so some added scrutiny seems warranted.
With Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson being the newest addition to the court, the current configuration of justices has been in place now for two full terms (2022 and 2023) and the 2024 term, which will wrap up in late June or early July. So, I’m going to confine my analysis to those three terms.
- Number of justices – 9
- Democrat appointees – 3
- Republican appointees – 6
- Bush 41 – 1
- Bush 43 – 2
- Trump – 3
- 2022 term cases – 57
- 9-0/unanimous – 28
- 8-1 – 5
- 7-2 – 6
- 6-3 – 11
- 5-4 – 7
- 2023 term cases – 59
- 9-0/unanimous – 26
- 8-1 – 3
- 7-2 – 3
- 6-3 – 21
- 5-4 – 6
- 2024 term cases – 32 (through May 22)
- 9-0/unanimous – 15
- 8-1 – 1
- 7-2 – 8
- 6-3 – 0
- 5-4 – 8
Takeaways:
- While many assume the court typically rules in partisan fashion, the bulk of the decisions in each term are unanimous (accounting for roughly 47 percent of the decisions over the most recent three terms).
- In contrast, the 6-3 decisions (what one would expect if the decisions were strictly party-line) account for only 22 percent of the decisions.
- Even the 6-3 decisions aren’t all party-line. For instance, there are cases where Alito, Thomas, and Barrett were the dissenting justices; or where Barrett joined with Sotomayor and Kagan; or where Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch were the dissenters (meaning the other three right-leaners on the court, Roberts, Barrett, and Kavanaugh, were in agreement with the left-leaners).
Last note: The thornier/more political the issues in a case, the more likely we are to see a 6-3, party-line split or a 5-4 split. Still, the fact that those closer calls don’t account for the majority of the decisions handed down by the court — even combining the 6-3 and 5-4 cases, that only accounts for 36 percent of the decisions — demonstrates that the court is not quite so partisan as many assume.
But, of course, they’re the final destination for most cases. The bulk of the action takes place at the district court and appellate court levels.
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The Federal District Courts
Next, we’ll take a look at the makeup of the federal judiciary, beginning with the District Courts.
- Number of district courts – 94
- Number of district judges – 677 (does not include those who have taken senior status)
- Democrat appointees – 382
- Carter – 20 (senior status)
- Clinton – 179 (all but 17 have taken senior status)
- Obama – 244 (58 have taken senior status)
- Biden – 184
- Republican appointees – 256
- Nixon – 1 (senior status)
- Ford – 4 (senior status)
- Reagan – 76 (all but five have taken senior status)
- Bush 41 – 69 (all but four have taken senior status)
- Bush 43 – 198 (125 have taken senior status)
- Trump – 171
- Vacant – 46
- Democrat appointees – 382
Takeaways/Notes:
- Including senior judges (many of whom are still active/deciding cases), the Democrats have roughly two-thirds of the appointees at the district court level.
- The overall totals don’t completely correlate because many of the senior judges (close to 100 of them) are no longer active — but the above gives a decent overview of the breakdown (and why Republicans seemingly have an uphill battle in the federal district courts to the extent that decisions are made in whole or in part based on partisan allegiance).
What About the Circuit Appellate Courts?
Alright, but what about the Circuit Courts of Appeal? Well, we have that breakdown as well.
- Number of circuit-level judgeships – 179 (not including those who have taken senior status)
- Democrat appointees
- Carter – 9 (senior status)
- Clinton – 44 (all but nine have taken senior status)
- Obama – 46 (11 have taken senior status)
- Biden – 44
- Republican appointees
- Nixon – 2 (senior status)
- Ford – 2 (senior status)
- Reagan – 31 (all but five have taken senior status)
- Bush 41 – 25 (all but five have taken senior status)
- Bush 43 – 45 (18 have taken senior status)
- Trump – 53
- Vacant – 3
- Democrat appointees
Takeaways/Notes:
- Including senior judges (many of whom are still active and deciding cases), the Democrats have 143 circuit-level judges, while the Republicans have 158. Even if you back the senior judges out of the equation, the Republicans still hold a slight advantage (90 to 88).
- As noted, the Republican advantage at the appellate court level is slight compared to the significant advantage the Democrats hold at the district court level.
So, What’s the Deal With the D.C. District Court?
As so many of the suits filed against the Trump administration since Trump retook office have been filed in the D.C. District Court, we’ve spent a good deal of time focusing on that court and its judges. Many of them have become household names — and there have understandably been questions about why certain judges seem to keep winding up with these high-profile cases.
In Part 2 of this “By the Numbers” analysis, we’ll take a closer look at the makeup of the D.C. District Court, as well as the distribution of the cases.
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