The ten Bush appellate nominees who were filibustered were Miguel Estrada, Priscilla Owen, Charles W. Pickering, Carolyn Kuhl, David W. McKeague, Henry Saad, Richard Allen Griffin, William H. Pryor, William Gerry Myers III and Janice Rogers Brown.
The Senate has confirmed far fewer judicial nominees at this point in President Obama’s
first term than it had for his two predecessors in office, and the percentage of confirmed district
court nominees is at historically low levels.i When President Obama was sworn into office there
were 55 district and circuit court vacancies, including 20 seats considered “judicial emergencies”
by the administrative office of the U.S. Courts.ii Today, the number of vacancies has risen over
50%, to 83 seats, 34 of which are judicial emergencies.iii This trend stands in stark contrast to
President Clinton and President Bush’s first four years, when vacancies declined by 65% and
34%, respectively.iv Today, nearly one out of eleven federal judgeships is vacant.
These deplorable facts did not happen by accident—they are mostly due to Republican
Senators’ abuse of Senate procedure to obstruct even non-controversial nominees. |
