Obama's Judicial Nominees Blocked On All Sides By Senate Republicans

[Tx4obama]

Obama's Judicial Nominees Blocked On All Sides By Senate Republicans

WASHINGTON -- It's bad enough that there are 82 vacant federal judge slots around the country, a level so high that many observers have deemed it a crisis situation.

But perhaps even more startling is the fact that of those 82 vacant slots, 61 of them don't even have a nominee.

On its face, the absence of nominees would appear to be a sign that President Barack Obama is slacking. After all, he is responsible for nominating judges, and he did put forward fewer nominees at the end of his first term than his two predecessors. But a closer look at data on judicial nominees, and conversations with people involved in the nomination process, reveals the bigger problem is Republican senators quietly refusing to recommend potential judges in the first place.

The process for moving judicial nominees is simple enough. A president takes the lead on circuit court nominees, while, per longstanding tradition, a senator kickstarts the process for district court nominees, which make up the bulk of the federal court system. Senators make recommendations from their home states, and the president works with them to get at least some of the nominees confirmed -- the idea being that senators, regardless of party, are motivated to advocate for nominees from their states. The White House may look at other nominees on its own, but typically won't move forward without input from the corresponding senators. Once a nominee is submitted to the Senate, he or she receives a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee. If approved, the nomination heads to the Senate floor for a full vote.

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Full article here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/29/obama-judicial-nominees_n_3156050.html

The whole article is pretty good

[davidpdx]

1. For those that aren't bothering, and I'm guessing most of them are Republicans

Obama should simply pick someone and state that due to inaction on the part of the two Senators in the state he is nominating someone. No, it may not be tradition but there is nothing illegal about it. Maybe this will cause the Senators to put up or shut up.