DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—President Donald Trump’s second-term judicial nominees share similar qualities with his first-term picks, though a limited number of vacancies mean his impact remains an open question.

Trump began this term with just 40 vacancies to fill, less than half of the open seats as he inherited starting in his first term. Confirming 234 judges to the federal bench, including three Supreme Court justices, is often considered by conservatives to be Trump’s greatest first-term accomplishment.

Now with 49 open seats, Trump has named 15 nominees and confirmed five, according to the Heritage Foundation’s Judicial Appointments Tracker. Confirmation hearings have been held for all but one nominee.

“I really do not see much difference between the caliber of nominees in Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0,” South Texas College of Law Houston professor Josh Blackman told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The story of Trump’s second term is a “lack of judgeships” to fill, Michael A. Fragoso, who was the Senate Judiciary Committee’s chief counsel for nominations during Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation in 2020, wrote in an Aug. 20 piece for Public Discourse.

“There has never been a Senate that’s better positioned to confirm conservative judges, but not since the first Bush administration have there been so few seats to fill,” Fragoso wrote.

‘Political Edge’

Trump unloaded on Federalist Society founder Leonard Leo in May, calling him a “sleazebag” who “in his own way, probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions” in a Truth Social post.

Despite his split with the organization that was so influential in shaping his first-term picks, Trump’s latest nominees share similar qualities on paper with those he selected during his first term, though they may have more political experience and “boldness.”

Robert Luther III, a former White House lawyer who worked on judicial nominations during Trump’s first term, said he doesn’t see a significant difference in quality or background of the latest nominees. Trump’s........

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