Records & Rankings

Presidents who appointed the most federal judges

Which president appointed the most federal judges?

Ronald Reagan appointed more Article III federal judges than any other president: 387.

Ranked by total Article III appointments on the complete federal record: the Supreme Court, the Courts of Appeals, the District Courts, and the specialized courts. Each president links to everyone they appointed.

#	Name	Detail	Judges
1	Ronald Reagan	4 to the Supreme Court	387
2	William J. Clinton	2 to the Supreme Court	383
3	Barack Obama	2 to the Supreme Court	330
4	George W. Bush	2 to the Supreme Court	328
5	Donald J. Trump	3 to the Supreme Court	291
6	Jimmy Carter	0 to the Supreme Court	267
7	Richard M. Nixon	4 to the Supreme Court	239
8	Joseph R. Biden	1 to the Supreme Court	235
9	Franklin D. Roosevelt	9 to the Supreme Court	222
10	George H.W. Bush	2 to the Supreme Court	194
11	Dwight D. Eisenhower	5 to the Supreme Court	191
12	Lyndon B. Johnson	2 to the Supreme Court	187
13	Harry S Truman	4 to the Supreme Court	152
14	John F. Kennedy	2 to the Supreme Court	134
15	Theodore Roosevelt	3 to the Supreme Court	98
16	Calvin Coolidge	1 to the Supreme Court	88
17	Woodrow Wilson	3 to the Supreme Court	82
18	William H. Taft	6 to the Supreme Court	74
19	Herbert Hoover	3 to the Supreme Court	72
20	Gerald Ford	1 to the Supreme Court	67
21	Warren G. Harding	4 to the Supreme Court	57
22	Benjamin Harrison	4 to the Supreme Court	54
23	Grover Cleveland	4 to the Supreme Court	54
24	Abraham Lincoln	5 to the Supreme Court	44
25	Ulysses Grant	4 to the Supreme Court	44

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Computed from the FJC Biographical Directory. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Verify against the primary source before relying.