Trump’s judicial confirmation machine to face resistance in Democratic-controlled Senate

November 11, 2026 / 6:00 AM EST / CBS News

Washington — After seeing success in reshaping the federal judiciary in his first term and the initial two years of his second administration, President Trump and Republicans' campaign to shift the courts to the right could be coming to an end with Democrats poised to take control of the Senate next year.

During his first term in office, Mr. Trump successfully put more than 230 judges on the federal bench, including three justices on the Supreme Court, remaking the judicial branch for decades. So far during his second term, the Senate has confirmed 57 of the president's judicial picks. In total, Trump nominees make up about one-third of active federal judges.

But Democrats are now poised to control at least 54 Senate seats, and as many as 56 depending on the outcome of races in Mississippi and Alaska, making it unlikely that Mr. Trump will fill many more vacancies on the U.S. district and appeals courts.

"No one, or nearly no one, is going to get confirmed, so what he does in terms of nominating people, we'll see," Ed Whelan, a distinguished senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/