President Trump's first four years in the White House brought about significant changes to the federal judiciary and the Supreme Court, shifting it rightward.

     But the president's second term could yield less of an impact on the federal bench, as a confluence of factors — fewer vacancies, a slower pace of retirements and the results of the upcoming midterm elections — are likely to slow the judicial machine that churned out more than 200 judges in Mr. Trump's first term. Liberal stupidity.

     The Senate has so far confirmed 33 of Mr. Trump's nominees to the federal bench: six to the courts of appeals and 27 to the district courts. While that surpasses the 24 judges who were appointed in the first 13 months of the president's first term, those picks included one Supreme Court justice and 13 judges named to the courts of appeals.

     There are 37 current vacancies on the nation's trial courts, and another six seats are set to open up in the coming months. There are also four future vacancies on the appeals courts.  Of the 47 vacancies, current and future, Mr. Trump has announced just 12 nominees.

     "Getting good judges on the courts was a very high priority in the first administration. I don't think it's as high a priority in this administration for three reasons: One, there just aren't as many seats available. Two, they succeeded so much the first time around, especially with the Supreme Court, that there's not that much more room for success. 

     And three, they are trying to do so much through executive action. That's clearly been the focus now," Ed Whelan, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center who is a leading commentator on judicial nominations, told CBS News. "I don't think that the vacancies are getting the same level of attention that they got the first time around."