Cloture Filed on 10th Circuit Nominee Robert Bacharach

Judge Bacharach

This afternoon Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) filed cloture on Judge Robert E. Bacharach’s nomination to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.  A vote is expected next Monday at 5:30pm.  Bacharach is a noncontroversial nominee, rated unanimously “well qualified” by the ABA, who was reported out of the Judiciary Committee with bipartisan support.  Ultraconservative Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and James Inhofe (R-OK) both strongly back his nomination.  Indeed, when recently asked about the efforts to block a vote on Judge Bacharach, Senator Coburn told The Oklahoman on June 12, 2012 that: “I think it’s stupid.”  Senator Inhofe, in introducing Bacharach at his committee hearing, said that: “I believe that Judge Bacharach would continue the strong service Oklahomans have provided the Tenth Circuit.”

The question now is whether Senate Republicans will vote in support of an unquestionably qualified, consensus nominee. 

Earlier this summer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-NV) invoked the so-called “Thurmond Rule”, an informal call to arms for Republican senators to block judicial nominees before the election so as to keep seats vacant for a potential future Republican president to fill.  If Republicans were to block Bacharach, however, it would be first time a circuit court nominee reported to the floor with bipartisan support has been successfully filibustered.

Blocking the confirmation of Judge Bacharach would add yet another obstructionist precedent to the growing pile of similarly inglorious precedents four years in the making.  The net effect of this obstructionism has been to keep dozens of judgeships unnecessarily vacant.  These efforts have gone far beyond simple political retribution.  Indeed, by July 26, 2004, 197 of President Bush’s circuit and district nominees had been confirmed.  By July 26 of this year, only 154 of President Obama’s circuit and district nominees have been confirmed, more than 40 confirmations fewer than at this point in President Bush’s first term.  Due to Republican obstruction, President Obama will be the first President in at least 30 years to complete his first term with more judicial vacancies than when he took office.

Simply put, it’s time for Senate Republicans to stop playing politics with the federal judiciary and start confirming nominees who everyone agrees would be great judges and who are desperately needed in courtrooms around the country. Click here to tell your Senators to end the filibuster of Judge Bacharach.
 
For more information on vacancies and pending nominees visit AFJ's Judicial Selection Project.

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Eighth Circuit Judge Michael Melloy to Take Senior Status in January

Judge Melloy

According to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Judge Michael Melloy of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit will take Senior Status on January 30, 2013.  President George W. Bush appointed Judge Melloy to an Iowa-based seat on the court in 2002.  The vacancy presents President Obama with his first opportunity to nominate someone to the Eighth Circuit, which has jurisdiction over seven states: Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas.  The court, which has 11 active judgeships, is the most Republican-dominated circuit in the country, with 9 Republican appointees and 2 Democratic appointees.  It also has the worst gender balance of any circuit, as its sole female Judge, Diana Murphy, is the first and only woman ever to sit on the court.
    
For more information on vacancies and pending nominees visit AFJ's Judicial Selection Project.     

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Cloture withdrawn, Judge Confirmed to the District of New Jersey

Judge Shipp

This evening the Senate confirmed Judge Michael Shipp to the District of New Jersey after Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) asked for, and received unanimous consent to withdraw the cloture motion on Judge Shipp’s nomination and to proceed directly to a confirmation vote.  Republicans forced Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) to file cloture on Judge Shipp’s nomination last week because of a dispute on an unrelated bill.  This is not the first time that Senator Reid has been forced to file cloture on long-pending, exceptionally qualified nominees.  In March he filed cloture on 17 nominees, after Republicans slow-walked confirmations for much of the early part of the year.

Now that Judge Shipp has been confirmed, there are 20 judicial nominees awaiting final confirmation votes, including 10 who would fill “judicial emergency” seats.  The Senate should move quickly to confirm the pending nominees who are only waiting for their final votes -- almost all of whom have strong bipartisan support -- before the upcoming August recess.

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AFJ Decries District Court Ruling on the Constitutionality of Health Care Law

Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron issued the following statement today on the ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson that portions of the health care law passed by Congress earlier this year are unconstitutional:

If anyone needed proof that judges matter and that the current battle in the Senate over judicial nominations is a fight worth having, they need look no farther than today’s ruling by Judge Henry Hudson, a former conservative Republican politician from Virginia, on a lawsuit filed by a current conservative Republican politician from Virginia, state Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli. So far, only judges appointed by Republican presidents have found the conservatives’ case to have merit, in spite of almost 70 years of precedent on commerce clause issues that argue for the opposite conclusion.

There are 38 judicial nominees languishing on the Senate floor today, blocked from final consideration by an obstinate, obstructionist Republican Party bent on preventing President Obama from filling federal district and circuit court judgeships, even those in courts facing “judicial emergencies.” Today’s decision puts the stakes in stark relief as the President’s agenda and many other important social and economic policies are challenged in federal court. It’s long past time that all those who care about health care, civil liberties, worker rights, or any core principle or issue, get serious about our courts and work to ensure the confirmation of President Obama’s nominees, before it’s too late.

Click here to read a report by Alliance for Justice on the career of Judge Henry E. Hudson (PDF).

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