Some years back, I asked a person who had been connected with the Bush Administration regarding judicial nominations why the appointments to the Ninth Circuit had been so spotty.  While some appointments had been excellent, there were also disappointments.  The "No More Souters" mantra that prevailed in Supreme Court nominations did not extend to the Ninth.  The answer genuinely shocked me, and by this point I was jaded enough that that was a high threshold.  The reply was to the effect that they considered the Ninth so screwed up as to be hopeless, so it really wasn't a priority.  One-fifth of the American population lives in the Ninth Circuit, and they just didn't care.

The Trump Administration and the Senate leadership have been praised in some quarters and condemned in others for getting judicial nominations and confirmations through quickly, relative to past administrations, but that evidently does not apply to the Ninth.  There were four vacancies as of yesterday, all existing before President Trump's inauguration.  (A fifth was added today.)  There are two more coming in 2018.

How many nominations do we have?  One.  How many confirmations?  Zero.

Many of the vacancies are from the retirements of persons of sense, so these seats must be filled with other persons of sense just to maintain the status quo.  Filling Harry Pregerson's seat will almost certainly be an improvement because it is pritnear impossible to pick anyone worse, but how much of an improvement remains to be seen.  The possibility, however slim, of losing the Senate in 2018 makes the nomination and confirmation of quality judges a priority, but we are not seeing any signs it is recognized as such.