Barry J. McMillion
Analyst on the Federal Judiciary
Recent Senate debates in the 112th Congress over judicial nominations have focused on issues such as the relative degree of success of President Barack Obama’s nominees in gaining Senate confirmation (compared with other recent Presidents) as well as the effect of delayed judicial appointments on judicial vacancy levels. The following report addresses these issues, and others, by providing a statistical overview of President Obama’s nominees to U.S. circuit court of appeals and U.S. district court judgeships, current through May 31, 2012. Findings include the following:
- President Obama thus far in his presidency
has nominated 41 persons to U.S. circuit court judgeships, 29 of whom have
been confirmed.
- Of the 150 persons nominated thus far by
President Obama to U.S. district court judgeships, 117 have been
confirmed.
- The greatest number of President Obama’s
circuit court nominees have been confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Fourth Circuit (6) and the Second Circuit (5).
- The greatest number of President Obama’s
district court nominees have been confirmed to judgeships located within
the Ninth Circuit (22) and the fewest to district court judgeships within
the First Circuit (3).
- District court vacancies have grown in
number over the course of the Obama presidency, from 42 judgeships vacant
when President Obama took office to 59 at present. There currently are 13
circuit court vacancies (the same number as when President Obama took
office).
- During the Obama presidency thus far, fewer
circuit court nominees have been confirmed by the Senate than were confirmed
during the first terms of any of the four preceding Presidents (Reagan
through G.W. Bush).
- Likewise, fewer Obama district court
nominees have been confirmed by the Senate than were confirmed during the
first terms of the four preceding Presidents.
- President Obama is the only one of the
three most recent Presidents to have begun his fourth year in office with
more circuit and district court judgeships vacant than when he took
office.
- During the Obama presidency, the average
waiting time from nomination to committee hearing has been, thus far, 69.6
days for circuit court nominees and 83.2 days for district court nominees.
- During the Obama presidency, the average waiting time from Senate Judiciary Committee report to Senate confirmation has been 139.7 days for circuit court nominees and 105.1 days for district court nominees.
- A President’s opportunities to make circuit
and district court appointments will be affected by the number of judicial
vacancies existing at the time he takes office, as well as by how many
judges depart office, and how many new judgeships are statutorily created,
during his presidency.
- The time taken by a President to select
nominees for judicial vacancies may be affected by whether the selection
of lower court nominees must compete with filling a Supreme Court vacancy,
whether the selection process itself is a priority for a President, the
level of consultation between a President and a nominee’s home state
Senators, and the time taken by home state Senators to make judicial
candidate recommendations.
- Institutional and political factors which may influence the processing of judicial nominations by the Senate include ideological differences between the President and the opposition party in the Senate, the extent of interest group opposition to certain nominees, the presence or absence of “divided government,” the point in a congressional session when nominations arrive in the Senate, whether nominees have the support of both of their home state Senators, and whether the blue slip policy of the Senate Judiciary Committee requires the support of both home state Senators before a nominee can receive a hearing or committee vote.
Date of Report: June 1, 2012
Number of Pages: 33
Order Number: R42556
Price: $29.95
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