White House Publicizes Push-Back on Hold Ups of Judicial Nominees

The White House recently posted this info-graphic (below) on the administration's successes in judicial nominees and on congressional footdragging.  According to the stats, President Obama has seen only 62.6% of his nominees confirmed (compared with 86.8% for President George W. Bush, 84.2% for President Clinton, and 77.9% for President George H.W. Bush).  Obama circuit court nominees have waited on average 151 days between their vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee and confirmation (compared with 29 days for President Bush's nominees); district court nominees have waited on average 103 days (compared with 20 days for President Bush's nominees).  President Obama nominated 20 judges who passed the Judiciary Committee but have yet to receive a vote in the Senate.

As a result, one of ten federal judgeships is vacant, and the wait for civil trials is increasing.  According to Chief Justice Roberts (in his 2010 year-end report on the federal judiciary): "Vacancies cannot remain at such high levels indefinitely without eroding the quality of justice that traditionally has been associated with the federal judiciary."

 

Check out JudicialNominations.org for more.

SDS