Bush Declares Judiciary 'Crisis'

The Associated Press | Friday, May 3, 2002; 11:56 AM | The Associated Press

[SunStar]

Bush Declares Judiciary 'Crisis'

The Associated Press
Friday, May 3, 2002; 11:56 AM

WASHINGTON –– President Bush accused Senate Democrats on Friday of "endangering the administration of justice in America" by balking at many of his judicial nominees.

Declaring a vacancy crisis on the federal bench, Bush said, "Justice is at risk in America and the Senate must act for the good of the country."

The sharp challenge to the Democratic-controlled Senate reflected a mounting fight between the White House and Democrats over the shape of the federal judiciary. Democrats have objected to the nominees on many grounds, including their contention that Bush's candidates tend to be conservative.

The standoff is a warm-up for what both sides predict will be an enormous fight if Bush gets a chance to fill a Supreme Court vacancy.

Bush said he has nominated 100 candidates to the federal bench and the Senate has confirmed half. Only nine of his 30 nominees to federal appeals courts have been confirmed, Bush said. Of his first 11 nominees, announced a year ago, only three have been confirmed.

Bush said his nominees "are in the solid mainstream of American legal opinion."

He said more than 10 percent of federal judgeships are vacant. He did not mention that the shortage is partially due to Republican senators who derailed many nominees of former Democratic President Clinton.

"By its inaction, the Senate is endangering the administration of justice in America," Bush said.

"I want you all to spread the word about how serious this vacancy crisis is," Bush told lawyers and law professors at the White House.

[freedomcrusader]

From the following article: Partisanship is Prevalent with Leahy's Judicial Confirmations , which is dated November 2001.

Only 18 of President Bush's 64 judicial nominees have been confirmed this year - just 28 percent. In their first years, former Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton had 91, 62, and 57 percent of their nominees confirmed. And even though George W. Bush began making nominations three months earlier than those predecessors, giving Mr. Leahy plenty of time to confirm judges, his committee has kept things moving at a crawl.

[Believe_In_The_Singularity]

How to discuss this issue:

These appointees are already judges working for the government. What it comes down to is that Bush is trying to give them promotions. That's about it. Anyone arguing about how deplorable there people are should be trying to remove them from their current positions, since they are the same jobs essentially (US Judge). Right? (All insinuations apply.)

[a_witness]

"I want you all to spread the word about how serious this vacancy crisis is," Bush told lawyers and law professors at the White House.

Good, he should speak about this for a week in the context of the War on Terror.

[Zack Nguyen]

He did not mention that the shortage is partially due to Republican senators who derailed many nominees of former Democratic President Clinton.

How nice of the reporter to tell us what to think.

[dixiechick2000]

... did not mention ...
bump!

[deport]

From the following....... It is somewhat dated as it's a May 2001 article, but appropriate regarding previous administrations....

Senate's Action on a President's Nominees. Historically, new presidents have had cooperation in the Senate. For example, the 95^th Congress confirmed 93 percent of President Carter's judicial nominees. The 97^th Congress confirmed 98 percent of President Reagan's judicial nominees. The 101^st Congress confirmed 93 percent of President Bush's judicial nominees. The 103d Congress confirmed 90 percent of President Clinton's judicial nominees.

"Judicial Emergencies" Require Prompt Action. Today's action by the President -- and subsequent necessary action by the Senate -- will help address a serious problem in the federal judiciary. At present, there are 31 vacancies in the United States Courts of Appeals, which is about 17 percent of the total. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has declared 15 of these vacancies as "judicial emergencies," and eight of today's nominees will fill "emergency" slots.

Reagan, Clinton, and a Republican Senate. During the two terms of President Clinton's presidency, the Senate confirmed 377 judges, which is just five short of the record set during President Reagan's two terms. (Senator Hatch says that even more judges would have been confirmed last year "had it not been for Democratic holds on President Clinton's nominees" who had been reported by the Judiciary Committee.) It is illuminating to compare the Reagan and Clinton terms because both presidents faced Republican-controlled Senates for six of their eight years: The Republican president had 382 judges confirmed; the Democratic president had 377 judges confirmed.

Senate Precedents. Of the 377 judges confirmed during the Clinton years, nearly 60 percent were from states that had at least one Republican Senator. When President Clinton left office, 41 nominees were left unconfirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate. When the first President Bush left office, 53 nominees were left unconfirmed by the Democratic-controlled Senate.

---

List of President Bush's nominations

Judicial Nominations

     89 = Vacancies in the 862-member Article III federal judiciary.

     47 = Nominations pending before the Senate.
 

Counter

 
Hits from 4/22-4/29:

1

1

1

4

 
Total hits since 7/10/01:

2

5

8

2

9

---

* These numbers only include Article III courts. The President has nominated 4 people to the Article I federal claims court, none of whom have had hearings.

[Lazamataz]

Snoop Doggy Dog (c) 2002 No Limits Records

Gangsta Politics (U Fraud)

billclinton is gangster, and represents gangster interests
all the federal judges he appointed are corrupt (and remain in his pocket)
slick willy is Head of Dem Party and rules Senate Dems with iron hand

(Chorus)
he won't let them confirm President Bush's judges, because they are honest
to dupe liberals, he pretends problem is ''they are right-wing''
President Bush's appointees are excellent, our Republic depends on honest justices

[maica]

GREAT POST!!

[w1andsodidwe]

He did not mention that the shortage is partially due to Republican senators who derailed many nominees of former Democratic President Clinton.

An excellent example of an editorial comment inserted into a news piece. Think "Bias". One of the things that I learned years ago in College was to separate facts from opinions.

This is a factual account of the President's speech interrupted by "The Associated Press 's" personnel opinion. Bias!!!!!

[Grampa Dave]

Besides putting on the political pressure, which this will do. The best and fastest way is this option of yours:

#4. He could wait for an election to change the balance of power in the Senate.

We need to defeat every Rat up for re election in Bush States. Then, we can make Da$$hole the bigmouth midget in charge of the minority party. He can count the pencils and empty the trash cans after each session in the Senate. The day he become irrelevant is the day things start to happen.

[MeekOneGOP]

Democrats have objected to the nominees on many grounds,
including their contention that Bush's candidates tend to be conservative.

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/craig.pierce2/sounds/miscell/surprise.wav

[Grampa Dave]

Great job of indexing and keeping track of this critical issue!

[hattend]

Two Words: Recess Appointments

Heck, Bill Lan Lee is still at his "temporary" 6 month job 2 years later.

[Cable225]

1. He could make recess apptmts. --- Not for the federal bench

2. He could ask for Supreme review of committee obstructionism of full Senate vote NEGATING a constitutional provision: separation of powers. --- Each part of Congress has the authority to determine how matters come to a vote. This has been debated here previously.

3. He could go after a constitutional amendment clarifying the REQUIREMENT for a full Senate vote. --- Amendments require a 2/3 vote in both Houses and 3/4 of the states to ratify, and the states can schedule votes on the amendment at their leisure. They take years to accomplish, not months. Do you suppose that 2/3 of the Senate is going to vote for a resolution that makes comittee members LESS powerful?

4. He could wait for an election to change the balance of power in the Senate. --- Sounds to me like he's working in that direction. You seem to think this is the least plausible idea.

5. He could exert other type political power....tradeoffs, compromises, money,etc --- How do you know he's not doing that?

[cogitator]

B. Delays, Stonewalls, Partisan Holds, Race and Gender Issues"

Quote: " Indeed, in the last year of the Clinton presidency, the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed only 39 judges. After July 2000, the Senate Judiciary Committee held no hearings, and not one judge was confirmed. By comparison, George H. W. Bush, facing a Democrat-controlled Senate, succeeded in getting 66 confirmations during his last year, and even after July of that year, the Committee held four hearings, voting to confirm 29 judges. Opponents of Clinton's nominees often raised objections that did not hold up under scrutiny. For instance, some charged that the Administration did not go through the appropriate process of getting state support in some cases."

The Republican Congress was properly (and politically) awaiting the results of the November elections to stop Clinton's last-ditch attempt to load the courts with liberal judges. While I find it proper and political, it's also true that they weren't taking any action, and some of the "crisis" that Bush refers to is due to this slowdown in confirmations.

[Grampa Dave]

Wow thanks for this data. You should send this to the pressitute who lied in this oped and a copy to the editor demanding a correction.

AP is a leftist agenda/mantra pusher. They can never document data like you just did! Great Job!

[hattend]

BTTT what you said.

[Grampa Dave]

FYI!

[aristeides]

1. He could make recess apptmts. --- Not for the federal bench

Certainly a president can make recess appointments to the federal bench. Earl Warren and William Brennan were recess appointments to the Supreme Court.

[Bubba_Leroy]

Bush needs to emphasize the fact that Dashole won't allow a floor vote on Bush's nominees.

If the democRATs vote down one of Bush's nominees on the floor of the Senate, that's their right under the Constitution. But Dashole is refusing to allow votes because he knows that Bush's nominees would pick up enough democRAT votes to be confirmed.

Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that one far left wing Senator can unilaterally veto the President's nominees.