Litigation

Backlog of Judicial Nominations Eyed

By Peter Hardin

Senate Republicans, their clout increased by the gain of six seats on Election Day,  will have more muscle to flex if they oppose or stall President Obama’s pending nominees for federal judgeships.

That’s the analysis of writer Ann Woolner in a Bloomberg commentary, entitled “Republican Activists in Congress Choke Courts.”

There are 23 judicial nominees still before the Senate, and 17 of them emerged from the Senate Judiciary Committee without any controversy, she writes. She calls the Republican tactics “an ever-escalating” political war.

There are 106 vacancies on the federal bench and “judicial emergencies” declared in 50 courts. About the impact of the new Republican senators, she writes:

“Given that federal judgeships are lifetime appointments, the influence of those new Republican senators will last a lot longer and be felt in far more areas of American life than any law the incoming Republicans will enact or repeal.”

Meanwhile the Alliance for Justice called on the Senate to use an upcoming lame-duck session to hold votes on all pending judicial nominees.

“It would be an unforgiveable tragedy if obstructionism during the lame-duck Congress helped create a lame-duck judiciary,? said AFJ President Nan Aron in the group’s statement.

Full post as published by The Gavel on November 10, 2010 (boomark / email).