Falling Off a Cliff: Judicial Confirmation Rates Have Nosedived in the Obama Presidency

[Bluebear]

Judicial confirmations slowed to a trickle on the day President Barack Obama took office. Filibusters, anonymous holds, and other obstructionary tactics have become the rule. Uncontroversial nominees wait months for a floor vote, and even district court nominees—low-ranking judges whose confirmations have never been controversial in the past—are routinely filibustered into oblivion. Nominations grind to a halt in many cases even after the Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously endorsed a nominee.

Such tactics are completely unprecedented, and so are their results. Fewer than 43 percent of President Obama’s judicial nominees have so far been confirmed, while past presidents have enjoyed confirmation rates as high as 93 percent. And President Obama’s nominees have been confirmed at a much slower rate than those of his predecessor—nearly 87 percent of President George W. Bush’s judicial nominees were confirmed.

The data could not be any clearer. As Figure 1 shows, judicial confirmations have fallen off a cliff since President Obama took office.

The Obama administration’s judicial nomination rates are exceptionally low. American presidents for more than three decades have enjoyed judicial confirmation rates near or above 80 percent. This pattern persists across both Democratic and Republican administrations, and it includes presidents who presided over a period of unified government (Jimmy Carter), presidents whose party did not at any point control the Senate during their presidency (George Bush I), and presidents who saw the Senate change hands during their presidency (Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George Bush II).

President Obama’s 42.8 percent confirmation rate is only slightly more than half of President George H.W. Bush’s 79.3 percent, even though President Bush presided over a period of divided government while Obama has thus far enjoyed unified governance.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/07/judicial_confirmations.html/print.html

[wakemewhenitsover]

1. This demonstrates the fallacy of bipartisanship...

...with Republicans, who are nothing but obstructionist. :banghead:

[Bluebear]

3. Perzactly.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. You mean the party of "NO" won't say yes to Obama????

what a shock....

[pscot]

4. You didn't hear it from the President

Why is that, I wonder.

[Enthusiast]

5. Yeah, why is that?

Curious, all the time more curious.

[tom_paine]

6. 'Cause we're looking forward!

Really, I mean who could have foreseen this?