United States: Trump's future judges risk being rejected by the new Democratic Senate

Donald Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices during his first term, securing a comfortable conservative majority of six to three. But it is unlikely that the US president will appoint a fourth before the end of his second term.

Because a nomination to the Supreme Court requires the agreement of the Senate, which was recently won by the Democrats in the midterm elections.

Federal judges and those of the courts of appeals are also subject to the Senate, and Democrats could therefore slow down their appointments.

At the Supreme Court, its two oldest justices — Samuel Alito, 76, and Clarence Thomas, 78 — do not appear to be nearing retirement.

The first, according to the New York Times, who was notably behind the decision that ended federal abortion protection, does not plan to leave his post in the immediate future.

In an interview with Bloomberg last month, he claimed that he felt neither "mentally nor physically decrepit".

As for Clarence Thomas, also a conservative, if he remains in office until May 2028, he will become the longest-serving Supreme Court justice in the history of the United States.

According to Ed Whelan, a conservative expert, "no Supreme Court justice will decide to retire during the last two years of the Trump presidency," he wrote on his blog.

"If, by chance, a position were to become vacant, Trump would not be able to get a candidate confirmed," he added.

The last Supreme Court appointment under Donald Trump was that of Judge Amy Coney Barrett in 2020, chosen to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an iconic figure of the liberal camp who died at 87, while still serving.

Clarence Thomas was appointed by President George Bush in 1991, while Samuel Alito was appointed by his son, George W. Bush, in January 2006.

The oldest Supreme Court justice, after these two magistrates, is the liberal Sonia Sotomayor, 72.

The Chief Justice is conservative John Roberts, 71, also appointed by George W. Bush.