→List of stalled, blocked or filibustered nominees: Unsourced list created by original research. |
→Failed district court nominees: Another unsourced list created by OR. |
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In the spring of 2001, then-Representative [[Christopher Cox]] and lawyer [[Peter Keisler]] were both considered for federal appellate judgeships. Cox was considered for a California seat on the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|Ninth Circuit]] and Keisler for a Maryland seat on the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit|Fourth Circuit]]. Both withdrew themselves from consideration before a nomination could be made because their homestate Democratic senators objected to them due to their perceived conservatism [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E3D61F30F937A15757C0A9679C8B63][http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E3D71030F935A15755C0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all]. The California seat that Cox had been considered for was eventually filled by Bush nominee [[Carlos T. Bea]]. In 2005, Cox was nominated and confirmed as [[Chairman]] of the [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]], a position he held until the end of the Bush administration in January 2009. The Maryland seat that Keisler had been considered for was to remain open the entirety of Bush's presidency with the failed nominations of [[Claude Allen]] and [[Rod J. Rosenstein]]. In 2006, Keisler was unsuccessfully nominated to a seat on the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia|D.C. Circuit]]. In 2007, after the resignation of [[Alberto Gonzales]], Keisler became the [[United States Attorney General|Acting Attorney General]] until the confirmation of [[Michael Mukasey]]. He left the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] in March 2008 to return to private practice. |
In the spring of 2001, then-Representative [[Christopher Cox]] and lawyer [[Peter Keisler]] were both considered for federal appellate judgeships. Cox was considered for a California seat on the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|Ninth Circuit]] and Keisler for a Maryland seat on the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit|Fourth Circuit]]. Both withdrew themselves from consideration before a nomination could be made because their homestate Democratic senators objected to them due to their perceived conservatism [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E3D61F30F937A15757C0A9679C8B63][http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E3D71030F935A15755C0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all]. The California seat that Cox had been considered for was eventually filled by Bush nominee [[Carlos T. Bea]]. In 2005, Cox was nominated and confirmed as [[Chairman]] of the [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]], a position he held until the end of the Bush administration in January 2009. The Maryland seat that Keisler had been considered for was to remain open the entirety of Bush's presidency with the failed nominations of [[Claude Allen]] and [[Rod J. Rosenstein]]. In 2006, Keisler was unsuccessfully nominated to a seat on the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia|D.C. Circuit]]. In 2007, after the resignation of [[Alberto Gonzales]], Keisler became the [[United States Attorney General|Acting Attorney General]] until the confirmation of [[Michael Mukasey]]. He left the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] in March 2008 to return to private practice. |
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== Failed district court nominees == |
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Bush nominated 23 people for 23 current or future [[United States federal judge|federal district judgeships]] who never were confirmed by the U.S. Senate.<ref>http://www.uscourts.gov/judicialvac.cfm</ref> Like the appellate court nominations mentioned above, many of these nominees were blocked by Democrats in the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]], which was controlled by the Democrats four out the eight years that Bush was in office. Twenty-one of these twenty-three nominees were blocked in the Democratic [[110th Congress]]. Republicans claimed at the time that the Democrats were trying to keep these district court positions open for a future Democratic president to fill. Eventually, Bush declined to make nominations for 23 other current or future federal district judgeships in the 110th Congress. |
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Of the 23 federal district judgeship vacancies with actual nominees in place, 2 eventually were filled with a different Bush nominee, 14 so far have been filled with [[Barack Obama]] nominees, 4 remain open, 1 became moot when the district judge decided not to retire and 2 never ended up becoming vacant because the district judge who had it never received confirmation to be elevated to an appellate court. In addition, two of Bush's 23 failed district court nominees, Oregon's Marco Hernandez and Illinois' John J. Tharp,<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-names-five-united-states-district-court-0</ref> were subsequently renominated by [[Barack Obama|Obama]] to federal district judgeships. They both were confirmed in the 112th Congress. |
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The failed Bush district court nominees: |
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*[[United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island]] |
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**[[Lincoln D. Almond]] (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee [[John J. McConnell, Jr.]]) |
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*[[United States District Court for the Northern District of New York]] |
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**[[Mary Donohue]], followed by [[Thomas Marcelle]] (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee [[Mae D'Agostino]]) |
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*[[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania]] |
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**[[Carolyn P. Short]] (judgeship was to become vacant when Judge [[Gene E. K. Pratter]] was elevated to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit]] but Pratter was forced to withdraw due to Democratic opposition and was replaced by Judge [[Paul S. Diamond]].) |
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**[[Carolyn P. Short]] (judgeship was to become vacant when Judge [[Paul S. Diamond]] was elevated to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit]] but Diamond never was confirmed to that post before Bush's presidency ended.) |
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*[[United States District Court for the District of Delaware]] |
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**[[Colm F. Connolly]] (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee [[Leonard Stark]]) |
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*[[United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina]] |
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**[[Thomas Alvin Farr]] (judgeship still open) |
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*[[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia]] |
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**[[David J. Novak]] (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee [[John A. Gibney, Jr.]]) |
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*[[United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia]] |
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**[[William J. Powell (lawyer)|William J. Powell]] (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee [[Gina Marie Groh]]) |
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*[[United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana]] |
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**[[David R. Dugas]] (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee [[Brian Anthony Jackson]]) |
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*[[United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi]] |
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**[[J. Richard Barry]] (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee [[Carlton W. Reeves]]) |
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*[[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan]] |
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**[[Daniel P. Ryan]] (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee [[Stephen Joseph Murphy III]]) |
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*[[United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee]] |
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**[[Gustavus Adolphus Puryear]] (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee [[Kevin H. Sharp|Kevin Hunter Sharp]]) |
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*[[United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois]] |
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**[[John J. Tharp]] (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee [[Sharon J. Coleman]]) (Nominated by [[Barack Obama]] on November 10, 2011 to a different seat on the Northern District and confirmed on May 14, 2012) |
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*[[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin]] |
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**[[Timothy G. Dugan]] (judgeship vacancy became moot when Judge [[Rudolph T. Randa]] decided not to retire in January 2009) |
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*[[United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin]] |
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**[[J. Mac Davis]] (judgeship still open) |
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*[[United States District Court for the Central District of California]] |
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**[[James Edward Rogan]] (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee [[Jacqueline Nguyen|Jacqueline H. Nguyen]]) |
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*[[United States District Court for the District of Hawaii]] |
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**[[Frederick W. Rohlfing III]] (judgeship later filled by Bush nominee [[J. Michael Seabright]]) |
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*[[United States District Court for the District of Oregon]] |
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**[[Marco A. Hernandez]] (Nominated by [[Barack Obama]] on July 14, 2010 to the same position and confirmed on February 7, 2011)<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-names-five-united-states-district-court-0</ref> |
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*[[United States District Court for the District of Colorado]] |
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**[[Gregory E. Goldberg]] (judgeship still open) |
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*[[United States District Court for the District of Wyoming]] |
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**[[Richard Honaker|Richard H. Honaker]] (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee [[Nancy D. Freudenthal]]) |
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*[[United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida]] |
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**[[William F. Jung]] (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee [[Charlene Honeywell|Charlene Edwards Honeywell]]) |
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*[[United States District Court for the District of Columbia]] |
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**[[Jeffrey Adam Rosen]] (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee [[James E. Boasberg]]) |
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**[[Michael E. O'Neill]] (judgeship later filled by Obama nominee [[Amy Berman Jackson]]) |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
Revision as of 21:03, 18 June 2012
During President George W. Bush's two term tenure in office, he nominated 39 people for 27 different federal appellate judgeships that were blocked by the Senate Democrats either directly in the Senate Judiciary Committee or on the full Senate floor using a filibuster.[1][failed verification] Republicans labeled it an unwarranted obstruction of professionally qualified judicial nominees.[2] Three of the nominees who were not processed (Paul S. Diamond, Loretta A. Preska and Philip P. Simon) were nominated after July 1, 2008, the traditional start date of the unofficial Thurmond Rule during a presidential election year. The Republicans claim that Senate Democrats of the 110th Congress on purpose tried to keep open particular judgeships as a political maneuver to allow a future Democratic president to fill them. Of the twenty-seven seats in question, nine were filled with the original Bush nominee, seven were eventually filled with different Bush nominees, nine have been filled with Democratic nominees by President Barack Obama and two are still open.
During his presidency, Bush also nominated 23 people for 23 different federal district judgeships who were never confirmed by the United States Senate.
The 107th Congress
Soon after the inauguration of Bush as president in January 2001, many liberal academics became worried that he would begin packing the federal judiciary with conservative jurists. Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman wrote an article in the February 2001 edition of the liberal magazine The American Prospect that encouraged the use of the filibuster to stop Bush from placing any nominee on the Supreme Court during his first term.[3] In addition, law professors Cass Sunstein (University of Chicago) and Laurence Tribe (Harvard), along with Marcia Greenberger of the National Women's Law Center, counseled Senate Democrats in April 2001 "to scrutinize judicial nominees more closely than ever." Specifically, they said, "there was no obligation to confirm someone just because they are scholarly or erudite." [4]
On May 9, 2001, President Bush announced his first eleven court of appeals nominees in a special White House ceremony.[5] This initial group of nominees included Roger Gregory, a Clinton recess-appointed judge to the fourth circuit, as a peace offering to Senate Democrats. There was, however, immediate concern expressed by Senate Democrats and liberal groups like the Alliance for Justice.[6][7] Democratic Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York said that the White House was "trying to create the most ideological bench in the history of the nation."[8]
As a result, from June 2001 to January 2003, when the Senate in the 107th Congress was controlled by the Democrats, many conservative appellate nominees were stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee and never given hearings or committee votes.[9]
The 108th Congress
During the 108th Congress in which the Republicans regained control of the Senate by a 51-49 margin, the nominees that the Senate Democrats had blocked in the 107th Congress began to be moved through the now Republican Senate Judiciary Committee.[10] Subsequently Senate Democrats started to filibuster judicial nominees. On February 12, 2003, Miguel Estrada, a nominee for the D.C. Circuit, became the first court of appeals nominee ever to be successfully filibustered.[citation needed] Later, nine other conservative court of appeals nominees were also filibustered. These nine were Priscilla Owen, Charles W. Pickering, Carolyn Kuhl, David W. McKeague, Henry Saad, Richard Allen Griffin, William H. Pryor, William Gerry Myers III and Janice Rogers Brown.[11] Three of the nominees (Estrada, Pickering and Kuhl) withdrew their nominations before the end of the 108th Congress.
As a result of these ten filibusters, Senate Republicans began to threaten to change the existing Senate rules by using what Senator Trent Lott termed the "nuclear option". This change in rules would eliminate the use of the filibuster to prevent judicial confirmation votes. However, in the 108th Congress, with only a two vote majority, the Republicans were in a weak position to implement this procedural maneuver.
On October 7, 2004, just prior to the presidential election, Senate Democrats issued a statement complete with statistics arguing that they were not obstructing Bush nominees in any systemic way.[12] Although the included statistics showed that district court candidates nominated by Bush were being confirmed at a higher rate than those similarly situated candidates nominated by Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton in their first term, it also showed that Bush's success rate at getting circuit court of appeals nominees confirmed during his first term (67%) was less than those of Reagan (85%) and Clinton (71%).
The 109th Congress
Things changed in 2005 due to the 2004 elections. With President Bush's re-election and the Republicans picking up further Senate seats (55-45) in the 109th Congress, the "nuclear option" became a more viable strategy to ensure confirmation. On May 24, 2005, seven moderate senators of each party, called the Gang of 14, in a deal to avoid the use of the "nuclear option", agreed to drop the filibuster against three of the seven remaining affected court of appeals nominees (Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown, and William Pryor) but not two others (Henry Saad and William Myers).[13] In addition, the senators in the group agreed not to block future judicial nominees with filibusters except in cases involving "extraordinary circumstances".
As a direct result of the deal, the two filibustered nominees not mentioned in it (David W. McKeague and Richard Allen Griffin) were confirmed, as was Thomas B. Griffith, the person nominated to replace Miguel Estrada after his withdrawal. Griffith too had become the subject of controversy.[14] Since Saad had no hope of a successful cloture vote to overcome his filibuster due to the deal, he withdrew his nomination in the spring of 2006.[15]
At the end of the 109th Congress, a new controversy arose over William Myers and three other Bush court of appeals nominees who had not been specifically mentioned in the Gang deal but were still subject to its provisions: Terrence Boyle, William J. Haynes, II and Michael B. Wallace. These nominations were returned to the White House according to Senate rules on August 3, 2006 in advance of the annual August recess of Congress. When the Senate returned in September, it was only for a short period before a break for the 2006 midterm election. Although Boyle, Myers, Haynes and Wallace were renominated, again no action was taken on them in the Senate Judiciary Committee before the break, and their nominations were sent back a second time to the White House on September 29.[16]
After the November 7, 2006 election in which Democrats picked up six additional Senate seats, President Bush again renominated the candidates whose nominations had been sent back to him in September. The Republican Judiciary Committee chairman, Senator Arlen Specter, however, said that he would not process these nominees during the lame duck session of the 109th Congress.[17]
The 110th Congress
At the beginning of the 110th Congress in January 2007, President Bush did not renominate Boyle, Myers, Haynes and Wallace in an attempt at reconciliation with the Democrats.[18] However, that did not stop many Bush judicial nominees from being blocked in committee by the new Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy. Among those stalled in committee until their nominations lapsed were appellate nominees Peter Keisler, Robert J. Conrad, Steve A. Matthews and Glen E. Conrad.
Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic Majority Leader, and Chairman Leahy cited the previous controversy over President Clinton's court of appeals nominees in justifying why only ten Bush appellate nominees were confirmed during the 110th Congress.[19][20][21] A total of eleven appellate seats with Bush nominees were left open at the end of the 110th Congress. Of those seats, two (i.e. the North Carolina and Maryland seats of the Fourth Circuit) had originally become available to fill during the administration of President Bill Clinton.
Others who were considered for nomination
In the spring of 2001, then-Representative Christopher Cox and lawyer Peter Keisler were both considered for federal appellate judgeships. Cox was considered for a California seat on the Ninth Circuit and Keisler for a Maryland seat on the Fourth Circuit. Both withdrew themselves from consideration before a nomination could be made because their homestate Democratic senators objected to them due to their perceived conservatism [1][2]. The California seat that Cox had been considered for was eventually filled by Bush nominee Carlos T. Bea. In 2005, Cox was nominated and confirmed as Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a position he held until the end of the Bush administration in January 2009. The Maryland seat that Keisler had been considered for was to remain open the entirety of Bush's presidency with the failed nominations of Claude Allen and Rod J. Rosenstein. In 2006, Keisler was unsuccessfully nominated to a seat on the D.C. Circuit. In 2007, after the resignation of Alberto Gonzales, Keisler became the Acting Attorney General until the confirmation of Michael Mukasey. He left the Department of Justice in March 2008 to return to private practice.
See also
- United States federal judge
- Federal judicial appointment history
- filibuster
- cloture
- nuclear option
- Gang of 14
References
- ^ http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2008/10/20081006-5.html
- ^ http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=N2E4YThmZjE3YjllNTI1OWJjZTNjY2JlODk0MGZjNDk=
- ^ http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=5663
- ^ Lewis, Neil A. (May 1, 2001). "Washington Talk: Democrats Readying for Judicial Fight". The New York Times. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
- ^ http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/05/20010509-3.html
- ^ http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010604/editors2
- ^ http://www.allianceforjustice.org/images/collection_images/2001-02_AFJ_Biennial_Report.pdf
- ^ Lewis, Neil A. (May 9, 2001). "Bush to Nominate 11 to Judgeships Today". The New York Times. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
- ^ http://www.heritage.org/research/legalissues/test101002.cfm
- ^ Threadgill, Susan (2003). "Who's who". Washington Monthly.
- ^ http://www.abanet.org/poladv/priorities/judicial_vacancies/fillibuster108th-72604.pdf
- ^ http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpc-new.cfm?doc_name=fs-108-2-282
- ^ "Senators compromise on filibusters". CNN. May 24, 2005. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
- ^ "Judicial Nominee Practiced Law Without License in Utah". The Washington Post. June 21, 2004. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
- ^ http://bench.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NTQ5OWNkOGIzZGI0OTQ3MjIwNTAzMTFiMmE0MWY4NDE=
- ^ http://origin.www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/digest2006/d29SE061.txt
- ^ Baker, Peter (November 16, 2006). "Bush Renominates Judicial Picks". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
- ^ Lewis, Neil A. (January 10, 2007). "Bush Drops Plans to Renominate 3 Judges". The New York Times. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
- ^ http://democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=296022&
- ^ http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=3585&wit_id=2629
- ^ http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200809/092608f.html