ABA President to Senate: Confirm 16 Judges Now
The U.S. Senate should immediately confirm 16 judicial nominees who have received no on-record opposition, ABA President Stephen N. Zack writes on The Hill’s Congress Blog.
There are more than 100 vacant judgeships in the federal trial and appellate courts. “The nomination [process] is needlessly divisive, contributing to the critically low number of federal judges,” Zack writes. “Delay and acrimony are the order of the day, but the timely execution of justice is imperiled.”
The last nominee approved by the Senate waited more than 400 days between nomination and confirmation, he writes.
The ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which has reviewed the qualifications of all federal judicial nominees for more than 50 years, has reviewed 89 individuals nominated by President Barack Obama. All have been rated either “well-qualified” or “qualified” for service on the federal bench, Zack writes; the committee’s other rating is “not qualified.”
Currently, there are 23 nominees awaiting confirmation votes by the full Senate; 16 of those apparently have no opposition from any senator.
The Senate should “put aside the rancor and partisanship, and with a few floor votes do much in the interest of justice,” according to Zack.
