Senate's Action on a President's Nominees. Historically, new presidents have had cooperation in the Senate. For example, the 95th Congress confirmed 93 percent of President Carter's judicial nominees. The 97th Congress confirmed 98 percent of President Reagan's judicial nominees. The 101st 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
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* 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.
AP is a leftist agenda/mantra pusher. They can never document data like you just did! Great Job!