Senator Leahy’s stated commitment could not be more urgent. The problem is it was made on February 22, 2000, when Mr. Leahy was ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republicans held the chamber’s majority and Bill Clinton was President of the United States.
Since Mr. Leahy was granted the powerful chairmanship of the committee, thanks to the defection of fellow Vermont colleague James Jeffords, the chairman has failed to fulfill the constitutional responsibility he once proudly preached. With the end of this year’s congressional session drawing near, more than 100 vacancies still exist on the federal bench — 38 of which are considered emergencies. Half of the judicial slots in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals are vacant, and the important DC Court of Appeals is dangerously undermanned, working at only two-thirds of its capacity. To add insult to injury, only half of President Bush’s 64 nominees have made it through Leahy’s committee and only 21 have been confirmed by the full Senate.
Despite Leahy’s claims to the contrary, the percentage of successful judicial confirmations this year is significantly lower than in previous administrations. This according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the nonpartisan research arm for Congress. According to a recent CRS survey, President Clinton appointed 47 judges his first year in office and 27 were confirmed, a confirmation rate of 57 percent. The Senate confirmed 15 of the 24 judges nominated by President George H. W. Bush his first year in office, a rate of 62 percent. President Ronald Reagan witnessed 41 of his 45 nominations confirmed in his first year, an astonishing rate of 91 percent. The meager 33 percent confirmation rate by this year’s Democratically controlled Senate is a disgrace, especially when many of President Bush’s nominees have yet to even receive, or are simply being refused, a hearing.
Chairman Leahy, for strictly partisan political reasons, is leading a judicial blockade against President Bush’s nominees. While the number of hearings has subtly increased, Mr. Leahy continues to deny hearings to highly qualified nominees who have been objected to and labeled as "conservative" by special interests on the far left. It should come as no surprise that these "controversial" nominees being held in limbo have proven records of upholding rather than distorting the rule of law.
While 32 of President Bush’s nominees have been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee as of December 6, none of them can be considered "controversial." Those 32, assuming the remaining 11 awaiting confirmation are approved, would only bring his successful confirmation rate up to 50 percent — a percentage significantly lower than the President’s recent predecessors.
How ironic that the partisan judicial litmus tests once shunned by Minority Ranking Member Leahy under a Clinton presidency are being used by Chairman Leahy to prevent confirmation of President Bush’s nominees. Instead of expediting appointments to fill judicial vacancies, Leahy’s partisan brinksmanship is seriously eroding the efficacy of the U.S. judiciary to fulfill its duty to protect the individual freedoms and rights of American citizens.
A word of advice for the Chairman: "We must redouble our efforts to work with the President to end the longstanding vacancies that plague the federal courts and disadvantage all Americans. That is our constitutional responsibility." Sound familiar?
December 7, 2001