This is why many voted for Trump in the first place

President Trump Flips Control of First Federal Appeals Court

President Donald Trump flipped the first federal appeals court to a Republican majority on Tuesday, when the Senate confirmed Judge Paul Matey to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

 

Several appeals courts already had a Republican majority at the outset of the Trump presidency. But January 2021, it is very possible that all federal appeals courts except three – the Fourth, Ninth, and D.C. Circuits – could have Republican majorities.

Given that President Trump has consistently nominated originalists and textualists to the bench, the president’s supporters are hopeful that several of circuit courts will have reliable constitutionalist majorities by Election Day 2020, giving President Trump a major achievement to tout to voters.

As pointed out in this article and elsewhere, there is a difference between Republican appointed judges and conservative judges. In many areas, where blue slips ruled, a President would have issues putting a ideologue on the bench in either direction. Of course, the blue slip started losing it's luster during the Obama administration, and now has pretty much become extinct.

But the point remains that some of the most liberal Justices on the 9th circuit court were appointed by Republican Presidents as part of agreements or just because it was who the Senators would allow a vote for. So it may require more than just a "Republican nominated" majority to have a conservative majority. But at the very least, there is a reasonable shot in most jurisdictions to now come up with a 2-1 majority conservative when the lots are drawn.