Historic progress for women on the bench

Stephanie Rose confirmed to Southern District of Iowa, marking historic progress for women on the bench during Obama’s first term.

Judge Rose

On Monday, September 10, the Senate confirmed Stephanie Rose as a federal judge for the Southern District of Iowa by a vote of 89-1, with only Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) voting no. Judge Rose’s confirmation highlights President Obama’s historic record on appointing women to the federal bench; in less than four years, President Obama has appointed 72 women as federal judges, matching the total number of women appointed during George W. Bush’s entire presidency. Judge Rose is also the first woman to serve as a district court judge in the Southern District of Iowa.  In addition to his historic number of female judicial appointments, 44.3% of President Obama’s appointees have been women, the highest percentage of any president.  President Clinton had the next best record, as 29.4% of his appointees were women. 

For a detailed breakdown of how President Obama compares with his predecessors in terms of the racial and gender diversity of his judicial appointees, please see the Alliance’s Judicial Selection Snapshot.  

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We’re Ready for our Close-up: AFJ Has a Cameo on “The Newsroom”

A star is born. On Sunday night’s episode of Aaron Sorkin’s new HBO show, “The Newsroom,” a member of the newsroom’s staff referenced a (real!) Alliance for Justice report as justification for doing a story on the unprecedented obstruction of judicial nominations in the Senate.

AFJ makes its cameo appearance in a scene early in the episode, when Mac McHale, the show-within-a-show’s executive producer (played by Emily Mortimer), informs the newsroom staff that, in the interest of keeping up ratings, they will have to cut several stories to make room for a story on Casey Anthony. Tragically, one of those cut turns out to be a story idea centered on AFJ’s “State of the Judiciary” report.

Season 1, Episode 8 of “The Newsroom”

Those of you with an HBO subscription can catch up on the episode here; for those without, read on for a quick transcript of the scene.

Mac: "I think you already know that starting tonight we're leading with Casey Anthony. Does anyone have a problem with that?"
(Most of the staff raises their hands)
Mac: "Alright, well we lost almost half a million viewers to Nancy Grace last week. Does anyone still have a problem with it?"
(Staff raises their hands again)
Mac: "We're gonna clear out some of these stories to make room. (Reading from a whiteboard) ‘Senate Obstruction Becomes Worst in U.S. History’."
Gary: "That's a report by the Alliance for Justice. The Senate's confirmed a smaller percentage of Obama's judicial appointees than any other Senate and any other President."
Mac: "No reason to care about that" (Crosses off list)

* * *

AFJ to “The Newsroom”: Ouch! That hurts! (But thanks for the plug.)

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Senate at a new low

Yesterday, for the first time, a circuit court nominee reported to the floor with bipartisan support has been successfully filibustered, breaking long-standing tradition and further shattering public confidence in the ability of the Senate to function responsibly within our democratic system.  This partisan action marks a new low in the politics of obstruction, hindering the process of putting judges in empty federal court seats across the country.

Oklahoma Judge Robert Bacharach was nominated for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He was a noncontroversial nominee, rated unanimously "well qualified" by the American Bar Association, supported by his conservative home state senators, and reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support.

However, earlier this summer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-NV) invoked the so-called “Thurmond Rule,” to delay judicial confirmations before the election.  Efforts to block Bacharach were in full force Monday night. Bacharach was four votes shy of the sixty needed for cloture. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and James Inhofe (R-OK) turned their backs on Bacharach by refusing to vote in favor of the nomination and instead voted “present.” Republican Senators Scott Brown (MA), Olympia Snowe (ME), and Susan Collins (ME) voted with Democrats to end the filibuster, while Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) also voted present.

The blocking of Bacharach indicates that the Republican leadership has indeed drawn the line in the sand: No more circuit court judge confirmations during an election year. It also sends the message that partisan political games are more important than justice for ordinary Americans. Now people living in the Tenth Circuit, which covers the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, will continue to suffer a vacancy on the appellate court that hears their cases.

What does this mean for other states? Three other circuit court nominees pending on the Senate floor, and four in committee, will not be confirmed this year simply because partisan forces have decided to keep the Senate from doing its job while they wait and see what happens in November. 

This compounds an overall and ongoing vacancy crisis in the federal courts. Due to a pattern of Republican obstructionism over the course of the Obama administration, only 154 of President Obama’s circuit and district nominees have been confirmed, while President Bush had seen 197 confirmations at this point in his first term. President Obama could be the first President in at least 30 years to complete his first term with more judicial vacancies than when he took office and Americans with cases in our federal courts will have to wait longer and longer to seek justice.

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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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Judiciary Committee still processing nominees; Senate still moving too slowly

Judge Kevin McNulty
(District of New Jersey)

On Monday, the Senate confirmed Kevin McNulty to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey by a vote of 91-3 (with Senators Lee, DeMint, and Vitter voting as a continuing protest of President Obama’s recess appointments of executive nominees in January). Despite facing no substantive opposition, Judge McNulty waited for over seven months for his confirmation vote.  

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported out four district court nominees (on voice votes, with Senator Lee as the only opposition):

• Frank Paul Geraci, Jr., nominee to the Western District of New York
• Fernando M. Olguin, nominee to the Central District of California
• Malachy Edward Mannion and Matthew W. Brann, nominees to the Middle District of Pennsylvania.  

There are now 21 nominees awaiting final confirmation votes on the Senate floor, 10 of whom would fill seats that have been declared to be judicial emergencies by the nonpartisan Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

The number of nominees awaiting confirmation votes has grown recently, as the Senate has only confirmed 4 judicial nominees in the last month. With approximately 3 new vacancies arising each month so far this year, the Senate’s current confirmation pace is simply not fast enough to significantly reduce the number of existing vacancies in our courts.

There are currently 77 vacancies across the country, and another 13 seats will soon be vacant. Given that the president began his term in office with 55 vacancies, the Senate could go a long way toward getting back to that point by moving 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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City of Pittsburgh to US Senate: Fill Judicial Vacancies

Access to justice is being stifled throughout the country, as more than eight percent of all federal judgeships are currently vacant while partisan gamesmanship in the U.S. Senate holds up the confirmation of judicial nominees.

In Pittsburgh, the City Council is responding to this crisis by calling on Pennsylvania’s senators to do all they can to fill the state’s federal judicial vacancies by the end of the year:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of Pittsburgh supports a strong judiciary, and calls on Pennsylvania Senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey to recommend qualified nominees to the White House and work with their colleagues to fill the eight federal judicial vacancies in the state of Pennsylvania before the end of the year.

Pennsylvania is far from the only state suffering from the judicial vacancy crisis.  There are 91 current and upcoming vacancies nationwide.  Thirty-one of these are judicial emergencies. Women and minorities are largely affected by the stall on confirmation; eighteen of the 34 pending nominees are women or minorities.

A new fact sheet from Alliance for Justice calls on the Senate to stop playing partisan games and do its job to address this crisis in the weeks remaining before Congress takes its August recess, noting that:

• The 15 nominees pending on the Senate floor could receive confirmation votes immediately, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has invoked the so-called “Thurmond rule” in order to attempt to halt the nominations process in an election year;
• Republican leaders are obstructing qualified, consensus nominees like William Kayatta and Robert Bacharach to seats on the First and Tenth Circuit Courts, respectively, although each has the full support of their Republican home state senators;
• Years of obstructionist tactics  have left President Obama trailing President Bush 152 to 197 in total district and circuit court confirmations at this point in their respective presidencies.

Click here to download the fact sheet as a PDF.

With a growing consensus for action on nominees from voices including the American Bar Association, Chief Justice John Roberts, and a growing number of federal and circuit court judges, the White House and Senate should move swiftly to fill existing vacancies.  Our justice system can’t function effectively without enough judges on the bench, and it shouldn’t be held hostage by political games.  It is not hyperbole to say that justice hangs in the balance.

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Justice at Stake: Judicial Confirmations Needed Before the August Recess

The nation is enduring a judicial vacancy crisis that prevents our courts from providing justice to all Americans.

Seventy-six federal judgeships—more than eight percent of all seats—are currently vacant. Thirty-one of these vacancies are judicial emergencies.

President Obama inherited 55 vacancies when he was sworn into office. Without swift Senate action on pending nominees, he will become the first president in at least 30 years to finish his first term with more vacancies than he inherited, excluding newly created seats.

Senate Republicans are perpetuating this crisis by blocking votes on unquestionably qualified, consensus nominees, hoping to hold seats open in case a Republican is elected president.

Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (left) invoked
the so-called "Thurmond rule."

Though there are 15 nominees pending on the Senate floor who could be confirmed immediately, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recently invoked the Thurmond rule to delay judicial confirmations before the election, especially for circuit court nominations. Republican senators have essentially been told to prioritize political bickering over access to justice for millions of Americans.

Republican leaders are obstructing unquestionably qualified, consensus nominees such as:

• William Kayatta, a Maine nominee who is supported by Maine's Republican Senators Snowe and Collins for a seat on the First Circuit Court of Appeals; and
• Robert Bacharach, an Oklahoma nominee who is supported by Oklahoma's Republican Senators Coburn and Inhofe for a seat on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

These nominees would normally be confirmed unanimously.

Republicans are raising obstructionist tactics to a new level, as President Obama already trails President George W. Bush 152 to 197 in total district and circuit court confirmations at this point in their respective presidencies. Confirming all pending nominees before the August recess will only marginally reduce the comparative numbers.

This obstruction is unacceptable, and senators of both parties who care about promoting good government should end it by forcing votes on every nominee currently pending on the Senate floor before the August recess. 

There is a growing consensus for action on nominees. The American Bar Association, Chief Justice John Roberts, and a growing number of federal district and circuit court judges have all urged the Senate to quickly fill existing vacancies. They know that our justice system can’t function effectively without enough judges on the bench, and it shouldn’t be held hostage by political games.

Senators are in Washington for four weeks before again leaving town. It is time for them to confirm nominees and provide their constituents with the functioning courts upon which our democracy depends.

To download this information as a PDF, click here.

For more on the judicial vacancy crisis, visit AFJ's Judicial Selection Project.

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Revisiting the Thurmond Rule

Is Strom Thurmond still casting
a shadow over Senate procedure?
His obstructionist maneuvers from 1968
have become part of Senate folk wisdom.

Yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced that Senate Republicans are invoking the “Thurmond rule” to halt the confirmation of any more circuit court judges this year. Should Senator Reid (D-NV) try to schedule a vote on an appellate court judge, the GOP members of the Senate will filibuster the confirmation and deny the nominee a chance to receive an up or down vote.

This means that the 4 circuit court nominees who have been waiting for their votes since March and April would have to stay frozen in the system until at least January 2013 before the Senate would take action to confirm them.

While much press coverage of McConnell's statement takes it as a given that the "Thurmond Rule" is an established fact of the Senate, history paints a much different picture.

The “Thurmond Rule” is a fuzzy, occasional tradition of the Senate, lodged nowhere in the formal or informal rules, which tends to be invoked in presidential election years by members of the party not holding the White House. While the “rule” is mentioned as if it is binding authority, history shows that the Senate in fact continues to confirm judicial nominees well into the fall of election years.

For example, at the end of President Bush's first term in 2004, the Senate confirmed 23 judges in the second half of the year. At the end of President Clinton's first term, 17 judges were confirmed.

Alliance for Justice has prepared a fact sheet on the "Thurmond Rule," which features an informative graph on confirmation rates during election years.

Click to Enlarge

(Note that the Senate is often in recess during nearly all of August so that senators can go home and meet with constituents or campaign for re-election; confirmation rates tend to rise back to March/April levels once the Senate resumes its business in September and October. For example, the Senate was in recess between August 2 through September 6 of 1996, and from July 26 to September 6 of 2004.)

You can download the full fact sheet here.

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Hillman Confirmed to District of Massachusetts

Timothy Hillman was confirmed last night to the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 88-1. 

The only “no” vote came from Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), who has a stated policy of voting “no” on all of the president’s nominees in protest of recess appointments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the National Labor Relations Board (recess appointments that were necessitated by persistent partisan obstruction of the nominees to those positions).

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) did not appear for the vote; his spokesperson said in an interview that if he could have been there, DeMint would have lodged a protest “no” vote as well.

Timothy Hillman has been serving as a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Massachusetts. He will be filling a seat vacated when Judge Nancy Gertner took senior status on May 22, 2011. Nominated to fill the seat on November 30, 2011, it has taken Hillman 188 days to move through the confirmation process, with 89 of those days spent waiting for his final vote before the full Senate.

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Confirm Paul Watford to the Ninth Circuit!

UPDATE: This alert is no longer active. Paul Watford was confirmed by a vote of 61-34. All Senate Democrats voted for confirmation, as did Republican Senators Lamar Alexander, Scott Brown, Susan Collins, Lindsay Graham, Dick Lugar, John McCain, Lisa Murkowski, and Olympia Snowe.

Paul Watford was nominated last fall to an "emergency" vacancy on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. An uncontroversial, mainstream candidate, he has attracted support from across the political spectrum and been given the highest possible qualification rating by the nonpartisan American Bar Association.

Some Republicans have spoken out strongly against Watford. For example, Chuck Grassley of Iowa says he opposes Watford because he served as co-counsel on a case and on an amicus brief challenging Arizona's controversial immigration law. Grassley and others had even gone so far as to begin a filibuster.

Of course, it's not the first time Republicans have seized upon flimsy excuses to mount last-ditch opposition against well-qualified nominees.

The opposition to those was almost certainly designed merely to drag out the process and make the president look bad. And now the same thing is happening to Paul Watford.

And while that partisan game plays out on the Senate floor, our federal courts remain critically understaffed.

On issues ranging from employment discrimination to health care, federal courts play an increasingly important role in the lives of hardworking Americans. But with caseloads soaring and the nominations process bogged down in partisan bickering, too many Americans are being forced to wait too long for their day in court.

Tell your senators to confirm Paul Watford to the Ninth Circuit, where new judges are badly needed.

Click here to take action!

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National Law Journal shines light on obscure part of nominations process

Alliance for Justice has documented the unprecedented obstruction of President Obama's judicial nominees in the U.S. Senate, including a blanket filibuster of seventeen uncontroversial district court nominees. News outlets have picked up on the disturbing trend as well, but most only tell part of the story.

The National Law Journal reported (registration required) this week on the obstacles facing judicial nominees even before the Senate Judiciary Committee gets involved.

The president of Alliance for Justice, Nan Aron, agrees that had Obama made more nominations, more new judges likely would have been confirmed by now. But she said many Republican senators are withholding their recommendations or approval of potential nominees.

For instance, three judge vacancies in Georgia, including a spot on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, are considered judicial emergencies, but have remained empty because the White House and Georgia's two GOP senators have been unable to agree on suitable choices, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on May 9.

For Eleventh Circuit nominee Jill Pryor, those senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, have not yet passed along their "blue slips" to the Senate Judiciary Committee, a courtesy given to home-state senators allowing them to express their opinion before a nomination hearing. The senators also blocked two nominees for the district court, and there are still no replacement nominees for the spots.

When and if senators do finally return their blue slips, nominees are faced with an immediate delay in the Senate Judiciary Committee, as Republicans have made it their habit to request automatic one-week extensions on every nominee. Even worse, Republican senators in the committee seem to do everything in their power to draw out the process.

For more on the record of obstruction in the Senate, download AFJ's latest report, State of the Judiciary: Judicial Selection During the Remainder of President Obama's First Term.

Click here to read the full National Law Journal article.

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A Turning Point at the White House

Community leaders met with key
White House staff, including
Attorney General Eric Holder

May 7 marked an important milestone in the fight to confirm President Obama’s nominees to the federal courts. Alliance for Justice and our national partners in the ongoing judicial nominations battle played a central role in organizing a White House briefing attended by 150 community and legal leaders from 27 states around the country. This remarkably diverse group of national, state, and local activists, all of whom have been engaged in the fight to nominate and confirm judges who share our values, went to the White House to share their experiences and concerns with administration officials, including Attorney General Eric Holder and the president’s judicial selection team.

The event energized the participants, and lent renewed vigor to an effort to end the destructive pattern of procedural delays that have left nearly one in ten federal judgeships without a judge.

The deep sense of urgency conveyed by the participants is motivated by the fact that the Senate has confirmed far fewer nominees at this point in President Obama’s first term than it had for his two predecessors, and that current vacancies on the federal bench have actually risen by 43% since he took office. Participants relayed the frustration growing in communities around the nation as understaffed courts face enormous backlogs and justice is frequently delayed for individuals and businesses whose lives and livelihoods often hang in the balance.

Among the topics discussed in frank exchanges with White House staff, were the need to continue to push for diverse nominees, including those significantly underrepresented such as Native Americans and people with disabilities, and to choose men and women who are young and have backgrounds beyond standard career paths like prosecutors and large-firm litigators. In the general discussion with White House officials, and later in extremely energetic breakout sessions, many participants expressed frustration with the relentless tactics of obstruction in the Senate, including the use of filibusters and the manipulation of the “blue-slip system” to allow nominees to be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Participants were eager for advice on how they can be more effective in pushing back against recalcitrant senators.

After the White House briefing, the group went to Capitol Hill for a total of 47 meetings with a bipartisan list of senators or their staffs, and reiterated their call for swift action on the president’s judicial nominees and for a yes-or-no vote before the election on all those submitted in 2012.

The message to the Senate was clear: our courts matter deeply to the future of our country, and efforts to willfully stymie the confirmation of new judges do an enormous disservice to our democratic institutions.

-----

Click here to watch AFJ President Nan Aron discuss the meeting and the state of judicial nominations with guest host Chris Hayes on the Rachel Maddow Show.

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AFJ President Nan Aron on MSNBC

Last night, AFJ President Nan Aron appeared on the Rachel Maddow show to lay out the state of the judiciary for guest host Chris Hayes. Nan also reported on a meeting convened Monday at the White House with community leaders from all across the country.

Watch the video:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Three Judges Confirmed by the Senate

The Senate has confirmed three new judges to the federal bench: Jacqueline Nguyen to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Kristine Baker to the Eastern District of Arkansas, and John Lee to the Northern District of Illinois. Nguyen received an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 91-3. Baker and Lee were confirmed on voice votes. 

All three judges are filling seats that have been designated as emergency vacancies, meaning there are not enough judges in the courts to hear the cases coming before them in a timely manner. Republican intransigence at every step of the nominations process has caused these nominees to be held up in the Senate for far too long.

Nguyen was stalled in the Senate for 159 days awaiting her final vote; 225 days have passed since she was first nominated. Baker, nominated 188 days ago, has been waiting 82 days for her Senate vote. Lee has also been waiting 82 days for his confirmation vote; 180 days have passed since he was nominated.

With the confirmation of these three judges, 93 current and future federal judicial vacancies remain; a third of them (34) are judicial emergencies.

The votes on Nguyen, Baker, and Lee bring to a close the deal on confirmation votes struck between Senate leadership—a deal struck after Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was forced to file cloture on 17 judges in order to make action happen on confirmations. With the deal at an end, the focus on nominating and confirming people to the bench must increase even further. Republicans could start by allowing action today on the 19 nominees still awaiting their confirmation votes. With 1 in 10 seats on the federal bench vacant, the movement to keep filling judicial seats so that ordinary people can access justice in our courts cannot be allowed to slow or halt.

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AFJ Joins Community and National Leaders in Urging an End to Obstruction of Judicial Nominees

On a day marked by the formal end of the deal struck between Senate Democrats and Republicans to give final votes to 14 of President Obama’s judicial nominees who were denied a vote last year and a White House meeting of community and legal leaders from around the country, Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron issued the following statement:

Today marked an important milestone in the fight to confirm President Obama’s nominees to the federal courts. With the nation’s judicial system suffering from the cumulative effects of over three years of relentless Republican obstruction, community leaders and advocates from around the country met with White House officials to lend renewed vigor to an effort to end the destructive pattern of procedural delays that have left nearly one in ten federal judgeships without a judge.

The deep sense of urgency conveyed by the participants is motivated by the fact that the Senate has confirmed far fewer nominees at this point in President Obama’s first term than it had for his two predecessors, and that current vacancies on the federal bench have actually risen by 43% since he took office. Frustration is growing in communities around the nation as understaffed courts face enormous backlogs and justice is frequently delayed for individuals and businesses whose lives and livelihoods often hang in the balance.

It is startling to realize that we are five months into the year and the Senate has yet to confirm a single nominee submitted by the president in 2012. The unprecedented level of partisan misbehavior in the Senate must end and today’s meeting reflects the unequivocal commitment of concerned citizens, national groups, and administration officials to push hard to ensure that every judicial nominee the president puts forward in 2012 gets a yes-or-no vote before the Senate adjourns this year.

The unequivocal message from today’s White House event was clear: our courts matter deeply to the future of our country and efforts to willfully stymie the confirmation of new judges do an enormous disservice to our democratic institutions.

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The Strategy Behind Judicial Obstruction

Three federal judges will receive confirmation votes today, marking the end of a March deal struck by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to hold confirmation votes on 14 judicial nominees. All 14 of the judges in the deal were named by President Obama in 2011; all 14 could have—and should have—been confirmed last year. If all three receive majority votes, they will bring the total number of the president’s confirmed circuit and district court judges to 143. This figure is considerably lower than those of his two predecessors on the same date in office, with 172 of President Bush’s and 181 of President Clinton’s nominees having been confirmed by May 7 of year four.

Looking more broadly at the total composition of the federal bench, today sees a federal judiciary with 430 judges appointed by Republican presidents and 367 judges appointed by Democratic presidents, or a 54%-46% Republican-appointed majority. 

What’s at stake for Senate Republicans in obstructing President Obama’s nominees becomes evident when considering the number of vacancies that will still be unfilled after today’s votes. If all three of today’s nominees are confirmed, there will still be 93 current and future federal judicial vacancies. If candidates to fill all 93 empty seats were to be nominated and confirmed this year, the balance among judges on the bench in December would be nearly equal, with 49% appointed by Republican presidents and 51% by Democratic presidents. 

By using any means available to delay, drag out, and obstruct every step in every stage of the nominations process, Senate Republicans are preventing the restoration of balance to the federal bench. Even worse, they are also laying the groundwork for what could be a drastic increasein the current imbalance. 

Each nominee prevented from moving through the process and receiving a vote in the Senate adds to the potential that a vacancy will carry over to next year. And if, for example, every one of those 93 remaining vacancies were to be filled with Republican appointees, the federal bench would be comprised of 523 Republican appointees and 367 Democratic appointees… a 58%-42% split. Some partisans in the Senate might see that possible outcome as a powerful incentive to continue their unprecedented and unrelenting obstructionist tactics.

While the partisan games continue in the Senate, 250 million Americans live in a community affected by a judicial vacancy.

For an in-depth look at the state of judicial nominations as of May 7, see Alliance for Justice’s newly released report The State of theJudiciary: Judicial Selection During the Remainder of President Obama’s FirstTerm. For the most comprehensive, up-to-date information on judicial nominations, visit the Judicial Selection Project website.

Update: All three of Monday's nominees were confirmed; one by an overwhelmingly bipartisan margin, and the other two on unopposed voice votes.

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Coverage of AFJ's State of the Judiciary Report

This weekend, MSNBC host Chris Hayes and The Atlantic correspondent James Fallows highlighted AFJ's new report on judicial confirmations during the Obama presidency.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Fallows wrote a follow-up piece for his blog on TheAtlantic.com, focusing on some key points from the report, including some context from recent history:

For all their differences, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were able, during their first three years in office, to place many more judges on the federal bench than left or retired. Thus, the vacancy rate went down. Obama has been able to place many fewer. Thus vacancies have gone up.

Click here to read more on TheAtlantic.com.

For more information on the judicial vacancy crisis and Republican obstruction, see AFJ's new report, The State of the Judiciary: Judicial Selection During the Remainder of President Obama’s First Term.

And this morning, 150 community leaders from all across the country are convening at the White House to discuss the judicial vacancy crisis with some of President Obama's key staffers. Stay tuned for updates from those meetings.

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Community Leaders from Across the Country Head to the White House

Next Monday, May 7, 150 community leaders from 27 states will travel to Washington to meet with White House officials about the vacancy crisis in America’s federal courts. Nearly one out of every ten federal judgeships remains vacant, and more than 250 million Americans live in a community with a courtroom vacancy.

A deal between Senate Republicans and Democrats to allow judicial nominations to proceed in the Senate expires May 7th, and the community leaders are urging the Senate to hold final up-or-down votes on all pending nominees.

After the White House meeting, the community leaders will visit the offices of key senators to urge them to work to end the delays that have plagued the Senate confirmation process since the beginning of the Obama presidency.  The community leaders hope their conversations in Washington will help national leaders understand how harmful the confirmation delays have been to Americans who are seeking justice.

For more information on the judicial vacancy crisis and Republican obstruction, see AFJ's new report, The State of the Judiciary: Judicial Selection During the Remainder of President Obama’s First Term.

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