Litigation

Obama Still Lags on Judicial Picks

By Peter Hardin

President Obama is lagging so far behind in naming federal judges that he may set some modern records.

That’s the scoop from the Washington Post, updating the statistics about federal judicial appointments that could poise Obama to set records for recent presidents at the halfway point of their first term:

• By Monday Obama will have nominated 56 individuals for federal district and appeals courts judgeships, behind the records of Presidents Bill Clinton (77) and George W. Bush (98) at the same point.
• Obama has won Senate confirmation of only 18  nominees, lagging behind Clinton (46, not including a Supreme Court pick) and Bush (43).

Don’t expect the Senate to accelerate its pace for  confirming judges. An overall Republican slowdown strategy has been quite successful and more likely will “resemble a full halt” as the mid-term congressional elections approach, the Post reported.

To learn about the impact of partisan politics on judicial nominations, check out Justice at Stake’s issues page on the topic. You can learn more about Obama’s record on nominations from Gavel Grab.

Full post as published by The Gavel on April 07, 2010 (boomark / email).