Litigation

Special Senate Election to Influence Judicial Picks?

By Peter Hardin

The election Tuesday of Republican Scott Brown (photo) to succeed the late Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts could influence not only President Obama’s push for a health care overhaul, but also the political dynamics of picking judges–including a new Supreme Court justice, if Justice John Paul Stevens retires.

Lyle Denniston of SCOTUS blog offers that take in the wake of the dramatic upset in Massachusetts, long a Democratic stronghold. With the Republican victory, Senate Democrats lost the 60 votes they have commanded to break a filibuster. Denniston sees a possible shift in the Senate that could play out on judicial nominations:

“[T]he political atmosphere in the chamber may well change markedly, with the Democrats ? and the President ? having to tack toward the center, or even rightward, if anything is to get done.  And that could strongly influence the choice of a successor for Justice John Paul Stevens, should he retire this summer, as is widely expected.”

He also suggests that liberal picks for the judiciary could be history:

“With President Obama still having three years to go in his term, Republicans who might be bent on obstructing any Court nominees would probably not be able to hold out long enough to prevent a centrist nominee for the Court from finally getting through.   But a nominee with an identifiable liberal record may well be doomed (assuming that the White House has any lingering interest in that type of choice).”

When the Senate returned to Washington this week, there were 101 vacancies out of 858 federal appeals and district court judgeships, or 11 percent of the total, according to a column by University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias published in the Des Moines Register. These seats “erode the delivery of justice,” Tobias wrote. You can read more about Obama’s record on judicial nominations in Gavel Grab, and you can learn about how partisan politics affects judicial confirmations from Justice at Stake’s issues page.

Full post as published by The Gavel on January 20, 2010 (boomark / email).