section_path: First presidency (2017–2021)/Judiciary
section_name: Judiciary
paragraph_text: Judiciary
  
  Trump appointed 226 federal judges, including 54 to the courts of appeals and three to the Supreme Court: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. His Supreme Court appointments politically shifted the Court to the right. In the 2016 campaign, he pledged that Roe v. Wade would be overturned "automatically" if he were elected and given the opportunity to appoint two or three anti-abortion justices. He later took credit when Roe was overturned by Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022; all three of his Supreme Court nominees voted with the majority. Trump disparaged courts and judges he disagreed with, often in personal terms, and questioned the judiciary's constitutional authority. His attacks on courts drew rebukes from observers, including sitting federal judges, concerned about the effect of his statements on the judicial independence and public confidence in the judiciary.