While White House officials are subsumed by the fresh intensity of the special counsel investigation, and House Republicans are preoccupied with propping up the tax overhaul, their GOP colleagues in the Senate are focusing on something not nearly as provocative as either of those things — but perhaps almost as consequential over the long haul.

This week, they’re pushing to double, from four to eight, the number of reliable conservatives that President Donald Trump has installed on the federal appeals courts during the opening year of his administration.

It’s a clear reminder that, thanks to the evisceration of the filibuster rules executed by the Democrats four years ago, Trump has almost unfettered power to push the federal bench rightward so long as the Senate remains in GOP hands.

Even if indictments swirl around him and his legislative program totally runs aground, at least through the midterm election, Trump can keep fulfilling the campaign promise so important to securing his base among social conservatives.

The principal wonder, then, is why nominations and confirmations are not happening even more rapidly.