>I think President Obama has or will have appointed half of the court.
"Will have appointed" has taken on a new meaning during this presidency. The Circuit Court currently has 16 vacancies, and 6 "Judicial Emergencies",[1] meaning that there are too many cases for current judges to handle. Although Obama has made fewer nominations at this point than his predecessors, this shortage is largely because Senate Republicans hate Obama and refuse to confirm his nominations — ability of litigants to have their cases heard be damned.
Well, technically, they hate science, they hate careful discourse, and they hate themselves for being very stupid, but psychologically won't admit that and they need an object to project these feelings onto, so Obama becomes the instantiation of their bogeyman. But all points agreed with!
"Will have appointed" has taken on a new meaning during this presidency. The Circuit Court currently has 16 vacancies, and 6 "Judicial Emergencies",[1] meaning that there are too many cases for current judges to handle. Although Obama has made fewer nominations at this point than his predecessors, this shortage is largely because Senate Republicans hate Obama and refuse to confirm his nominations — ability of litigants to have their cases heard be damned.
[1] http://www.afj.org/judicial-selection/judicial-selection-sna...