Obama has a difficult road ahead partly because of his failure to act swiftly on nominations during his first year in office. In 2009, Obama nominated 33 judges to the district and circuit courts, and the Senate confirmed 12. These numbers are, in a word, pathetic. New obstructionist tactics by Senate Republicans are partially to blame. But Obama deserves some blame, too; the paucity of nominees made it hard to scream too loudly about the lack of confirmations.
-- Doug Kendal
Given reference to Republican obstructionist tactics even to those that they eventually deemed appropriate (that is, few voted against at the end of the day) and Obama's efforts to involve Republicans in the process (more so than Bush, which is one reason why Dems selectively tried [in the end, most got through] to block nominees), why not complain loudly?
[Carl Tobias has written various articles on this issue as can be found here.]
Various reasons led to a limited number of nominations. Fine. But, given the much smaller number of nominations, the failure to confirm is that must worse. A 33% confirmation rate is rather sad, but it really is bad when in raw numbers were are talking about so few judges. The number of vacancies underlines the need to confirm whomever possible. I might turn it around -- if you are not going to confirm the few offered, what is the value of nominating more?
It will be harder now with 41 Republicans and a few more conservative Dems being antsy, but the article is on point respecting the need to face this problem. Nomination and confirmation of federal judges is a special duty of both the President and Senate, and the former must step up his leadership on the question. As with the Shelby holds situation, the system is broken, and steps need to be done to fix it. Obama's actions in this area already has led to some Republicans supporting his nominees, so some hope is there.
Either way, a strong effort is a must. And, Obama could be blamed for his role here, but let's recall the various things on his plate last year, some compromises on priorities likely to occur. Cf. 2001. Even after 9/11, Bush didn't have another major military conflict, an economic crisis or a Supreme Court confirmation to handle. OTOH, stem cells took months for him to settle.
But, short attention span theater will occur here. See the "Jackson" comment at the hold link. Charming b.s.
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* Goodwin Liu would be a good addition to the federal court, particularly if his co-author, Pamela Karlan will not be. Other young voices on the Right were confirmed last time, particularly after the "Gang of 14" acted, and equal time is warranted, putting aside simple merit.
[Update: One long time commentator on the process wonders if he actually is on the short list for a Supreme Court nomination, particularly if Ginsburg retires, a reality she thinks quite possible. Reports of the Administration preparing aside, I wonder about that, especially given she doesn't seem to want to retire, particularly at the same time as Stevens.
But, maybe her health really is that bad. Interestingly, Liu -- who seems a bit young to be a justice -- was a Ginsburg clerk. If a woman replaces Stevens, maybe the well respected (including by the top conservative judges she serves with) Judge Wood of Stevens' old circuit, that would be a sort of Roberts/Rehnquist moment while still keeping at least to women on the Court. She probably would prefer three, but a former clerk, highly qualified at that, is a nice back-up option.]
OTOH, Ted Olson was confirmed with 51-47, but 60 votes apparently is the test for Dawn Johnsen.