Sunday, October 18, 2009
During his first nine months in office in 2001, President George W. Bush had nominated 95 judges to the federal bench. President Barack Obama? Just 23. And only three of these have been confirmed by the Senate…including Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Supporters of President Obama have grown impatient with his slow pace of choosing new judges, claiming his efforts to make nice with Republicans have only played into the GOP’s partisan hands. Republican senators have used filibuster threats and other procedural tactics to slow the confirmation process to a crawl.
Approximately 10% of all federal judgeships are currently vacant, representing about 90 seats.
“It is incumbent on the Democrats and the White House to push as hard as they can to confirm judicial nominees, given that next year Republicans will make an all-out effort to block candidates as a means to gin up their base before the election,” Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, told The Washington Post.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Obama Criticized as Too Cautious, Slow on Judicial Posts (by Michael Fletcher, Washington Post)
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