President Joe Biden (D) has not yet made any Article III federal judicial appointments through March 1 of his first year in office. This is equal to the number of Article III judicial appointments through this point in all presidencies since President Ronald Reagan (R).
Both the average and median numbers of federal judges appointed by a president through March 1 of their first year in office are zero.
Since 1981, during a president’s first year in office:
• The average number of Supreme Court justices appointed is one. Presidents Donald Trump (R), Barack Obama (D), Bill Clinton (D), and Reagan each appointed one Supreme Court justice.
• The average number of United States Court of Appeals judges appointed is six. Trump appointed the most with 12, and Clinton and Obama are tied for appointing the fewest with three.
• The average number of United States District Court judges appointed is 17. Reagan appointed the most, 32, and Trump appointed the fewest with six.
• Reagan had appointed the most Article III federal judges during his first year in office with 41, while Obama had appointed the fewest in that time with 13.
Article III federal judges are appointed for life terms by the president of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate per Article III of the United States Constitution. Article III judges include judges on the: Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. courts of appeal, U.S. district courts, and the Court of International Trade.
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