President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE reportedly joked at a meeting of conservative activists last month that he has had to turn down friends who have asked for federal judgeships because they were too old.

“I had to tell them no,” Trump said at the meeting, according to a Washington Post report. He then paused before noting that, in fact, he had "someone else tell them no."

The joke, however, is a sign of Trump's ongoing efforts to reshape the federal judiciary for years to come by installing young, conservative judges in courts across the country.

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Since taking office, Trump has nominated 59 people for federal judgeships, and, so far, 19 have been confirmed by the Senate.

Among the president's criteria for selecting judicial nominees, according to the Post, is that they are young — which would let them serve for decades, allowing them to wield long-term influence on American jurisprudence.

Those nominees must also be conservative and strict constitutionalists, according to the Post.

But the White House has faced questions in recent days about its vetting process for judicial nominees, after it pulled the plug on three of them last week.

One of those nominees, Matthew Petersen, sat through an embarrassing Senate hearing last week, in which he failed to answer basic legal questions from Sen. John Kennedy John Neely KennedyMORE (R-La.). Another nominee, Brett Talley, came under scrutiny for his failure to disclose that his wife serves as chief of staff for White House Counsel Don McGahn, as well as for a lack of experience.

A third nominee, Jeff Mateer, was forced to withdraw after it was revealed that he once described transgender youth as being part of "Satan's plan."