A primer on the FACTS of Repube/Dem judicial appointments

[underpants]

http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0521-06.htm

To a far greater degree than the Democrats who controlled the Senate during six of the Reagan-Bush I years, the Republican Senate played relentless hardball to keep Clinton from appointing even moderate judges, especially to appeals courts.

The Republican Congress also refused to create new judgeships necessary to handle an expanding population and caseload.

Under President Carter, 152 additional federal judgeships were created. Reagan and Bush each got 85, Clinton just nine.

Under Reagan and Bush, the the Senate, then controlled by Democrats, typically approved presidential nominations to the appellate bench within three to four months.

When the roles were reversed and Republican senators were in charge, the average delay rose to more than seven months in Clinton's second term and 280 days in Clinton's last two years, according to a tabulation by the Alliance for Justice.

By the end of 2000, the Senate had confirmed only 39 of 81 pending judicial nominees and just eight to appeals courts. Forty-two were left to lapse.

By the end of the Clinton presidency, eight out of the 13 federal appeals courts were still dominated by Republican judges, and just one, the Sixth Circuit, had a narrow majority of Democratic appointees (plus four vacancies.)

While a few high-profile nominations of ultra-conservative judges by Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. were indeed killed by the Democratic Senate, there was far less blockage and delay.


Questions about Judges Republicans Don't Want to Answer

http://democrats.senate.gov/judges1.html