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Obama getting fewer judges confirmed than Nixon
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Candidate
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| Contributor | Scott³ |
| Last Edited | Scott³ Sep 07, 2010 03:38pm |
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| Category | News |
| Author | MARK SHERMAN |
| News Date | Tuesday, September 7, 2010 09:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | "A determined Republican stall campaign in the Senate has sidetracked so many of the men and women nominated by President Barack Obama for judgeships that he has put fewer people on the bench than any president since Richard Nixon at a similar point in his first term 40 years ago.
The delaying tactics have proved so successful, despite the Democrats' substantial Senate majority, that fewer than half of Obama's nominees have been confirmed and 102 out of 854 judgeships are vacant.
Forty-seven of those vacancies have been labeled emergencies by the judiciary because of heavy caseloads.
Even some Republican senators have complained. Sen. Lamar Alexander took to the Senate floor in July to plead with his own leaders for a vote on an appeals court judge supported by Alexander and fellow Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker.
With Congress returning Sept. 13 for a session shortened by members' desire to campaign for re-election in November, there's little time to reverse the trend. Some say there's little chance of reversing it as polls show a rising chance the GOP will capture the Senate, which could stiffen GOP resistance to confirmation votes.
The Obama administration got a slow start sending names to the Senate last year and has yet to try to fill two vacancies on the high-profile federal appeals court in the District of Columbia, where four current Supreme Court justices once served.
Obama has voiced only tepid public objection as more and more of his judicial nominees become stranded in Senate limbo, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been unwilling to set aside the considerable time needed to force votes under complex Senate rules." |
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