NEW: A spate of federal judges are retiring now that Joe Biden will pick their replacements https://www.huffpost.com/entry/federal-judges-retire-joe-biden_n_600f3759c5b676ad837652a8?rz

Since last Weds, when Biden was sworn in, at least 7 federal judges have announced retirement plans.

Some barely waited a day after Biden was inaugurated. Or even hours.

Got a coupla letters in here from judges announcing resignations. This one made me laugh.

“It has been my honor to serve." -- Judge Victoria Roberts to Biden, 90 *minutes* after he was sworn in, announcing she was taking senior status. Adios! https://www.huffpost.com/entry/federal-judges-retire-joe-biden_n_600f3759c5b676ad837652a8?rz

By my count (and the #s are changing)....

7 federal judges with lifetime appts have announced retirement plans since Inauguration Day.

8 have announced since Biden won the election.

Judges, of course, have their own reasons for retiring when they do. They're eligible. Family matters, perhaps.

But it's safe to say, for the most part, that the timing of these judges' retirements is because they wanted Biden to pick their replacements, not Trump.

“Congratulations on becoming our new president,” Judge William Alsup wrote to Biden a *day after* he was inaugurated. “I feel it is time now for me to ‘go senior.’” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/federal-judges-retire-joe-biden_n_600f3759c5b676ad837652a8?rz

Carl Tobias, a judicial nominations expert, said while Supreme Court justices often to try to time their retirements for when the current president is of the same party as the president who nominated them, that's not as common with lower court judges.

But... enter Trump.

Tobias speculated a # of judges couldn't fathom letting Trump pick their replacements, so they hung on for Biden.

"Trump was so nasty to federal judges and so counter to the rule of law that he repelled many federal judges."

It's not just a pile of Democrat-appointed judges retiring post-Trump, either. At the moment, the breakdown is...

2 Obama appointees
5 GWB appointees
8 Clinton appointees