Russell Wheeler has this blog post at Brookings, entitled “No further Obama impact on the make-up of Courts of Appeals.”
Wheeler is a former deputy director of the Federal Judicial Center. The balanced and informative post begins:
The Senate is set to confirm U.S. District Judge L. Felipe Restrepo to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals on January 11th, 425 days after his nomination. Median days from nomination to confirmation of Obama’s 55 circuit appointees (counting Restrepo) is 229, compared to 219 for Bush’s 60 appointees and 139 for Clinton’s 65 appointees.
There will be little need to update these figures, because any 2016 circuit confirmations after Restrepo are unlikely. His confirmation will also mark the high point of Obama’s overall impact on the makeup of the courts of appeals.
Certainly reason for pessimism that Judge Rendell’s seat will be filled any time soon.