WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Chad A. Readler of Ohio as President Trump’s 33rd federal appeals court judge despite bipartisan criticism that as a Justice Department official in the Trump administration he had shirked his official responsibility to defend the Affordable Care Act when it was challenged in court.

Mr. Readler’s nomination is just the latest to divide the Senate as Republicans renew their drive to fill federal district and circuit court vacancies while gearing up to force through a Senate rules change to accelerate the confirmation process for the remainder of Mr. Trump’s tenure.

With the approval of Mr. Readler to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and two other appeals court nominees headed for a vote, Mr. Trump will have filled nearly 20 percent of the nation’s appellate court judgeships. That is a pace well ahead of his predecessors and one that puts his stamp firmly on the federal judiciary, with nearly two years remaining in his term. President Barack Obama did not see his 33rd circuit judge confirmed until early in his second term.

The fight over Mr. Readler was intensified by his role in the legal struggle over the Affordable Care Act, which Democrats said he was obligated to defend as a top lawyer in the Justice Department’s civil division because it was existing law. Instead, he filed a brief in support of a lawsuit by Republican attorneys general aimed at gutting the Affordable Care Act, and argued that it, and its protections against denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, was unconstitutional.