So far in 2011, the Senate has confirmed 15 judges, which has kept up with 15 new vacancies, and Obama has nominated another 17 federal judges. But, as Jonathan Bernstein pointed out in The Washington Post (4/6/11), there are still 96 vacancies, "...including a still-astonishing 50 seats for which Obama hasn’t named anyone." While the Senate has confirmed non-controversial judicial nominees (those who were unanimous or almost unanimous), there remain several nominees for whom there is some Republican opposition but not enough for a successful filibuster. These could be confirmed but inexplicably have not been moved to the Senate floor for a vote. And, as noted above, there are plenty of vacancies that Obama has not even tried to fill.
It is time for the president and the Democrats to be far more aggressive in overcoming Republican obstruction to ensure that well qualified judicial nominees are nominated and approved.
Article comments
1 - Glenn Contrarian
I agree wholeheartedly - one of Obama's major failings is that he's not aggressive enough...and it's going to come back to bite all of us in the years to come.