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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTotal Obstruction of the Courts
This anti-Obama shit is getting old.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/6/14/14939/7920
Total Obstruction of the Courts
by BooMan
Thu Jun 14th, 2012 at 02:09:39 PM EST
Mitch McConnell just came out and announced that the Republican minority in the Senate will filibuster every single cloture vote on circuit court judges from now until after the presidential election. Worse, he falsely claims that it is routine to not have votes on circuit court judges within six months of a presidential election. But he's full of it.
According to data from the Federal Judicial Center, President Carter had 5 appeals judges confirmed between this day in 1980 and that years election, one of whom was future Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. President Reagan had 7 in his first term and 2 in his second. The first President Bush had 7. No appellate judges were confirmed in the lead up to the 1996 election, but one was confirmed at the end of President Clintons second term. The second President Bush had 3 confirmed during this period in 2004 and 2 in 2008.
The only time this was done before was you guessed it in 1996, when Clinton was running for reelection. In the five terms served by the three most recent Republican presidents, there wasn't a single term when the Democrats refused to allow votes on circuit judge nominations.
Let's look a the vacancies on the circuit courts of appeal.
First Circuit: 1 vacancy
Second Circuit: 0 vacancies
Third Circuit: 0 vacancies
Fourth Circuit: 1 vacancy
Fifth Circuit: 1 vacancy
Sixth Circuit: 0 vacancies
Seventh Circuit: 1 vacancy
Eighth Circuit: 0 vacancies
Ninth Circuit: 1 vacancy
Tenth Circuit: 2 vacancies
Eleventh Circuit: 1 vacancy
DC Circuit: 3 vacancies
Federal Circuit: 1 vacancy
Second Circuit: 0 vacancies
Third Circuit: 0 vacancies
Fourth Circuit: 1 vacancy
Fifth Circuit: 1 vacancy
Sixth Circuit: 0 vacancies
Seventh Circuit: 1 vacancy
Eighth Circuit: 0 vacancies
Ninth Circuit: 1 vacancy
Tenth Circuit: 2 vacancies
Eleventh Circuit: 1 vacancy
DC Circuit: 3 vacancies
Federal Circuit: 1 vacancy
That's 12 total vacancies. Only four of our thirteen circuit courts of appeal are fully staffed. In January of 2011, Chief Justice John Roberts complained that there were a total of 96 federal judgeships vacant, a number that included the district courts. The number today is seventy-four, with 33 pending nominations. I suggest that Obama threaten to make at least 33 recess appointments, if not the 74 needed to fully staff our judiciary. And, yes, it can be done.
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Total Obstruction of the Courts (Original Post)
babylonsister
Jun 2012
OP
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)1. Also, besides the 13 vacancies on the United States Courts of Appeals ...
There are ....
... 58 vacancies on the United States district courts and 16 additional federal judiciary vacancies that are anticipated to occur before the end of Obama's current term. ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_judges_appointed_by_Barack_Obama
Meiko
(1,076 posts)2. The thugs are just using this as a bargaining chip
there is something else they want, who knows what it is. My guess is that the nominees will get a vote before it's all over.
babylonsister
(171,060 posts)3. I think it's obstruction, Bargaining for what? nt