Monday, May 14, 2018

More on Trump's judicial appointments (UPDATED WITH SUPREME COURT RULINGS)

UPDATE.  A bunch of SCOTUS decisions this morning, including the gambling and rental car cases.  Still no Carpenter.   

The Congressional Research Service covers the statistics here.  This is the summary intro:
This report, in light of continued Senate interest in the judicial confirmation process during a President’s first year in office, provides statistics related to the nomination and confirmation of U.S. circuit and district court nominees during the first year of the Trump presidency (as well as during the first year of each of his three immediate predecessors—Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton).

Some of the report’s findings regarding circuit court nominations include the following:

 The number of U.S. circuit court vacancies decreased by 1, from 17 to 16, during the first year of the Trump presidency. The percentage of circuit court judgeships that were vacant decreased from 9.5% to 8.9%.
 During his first year in office, President Trump nominated 19 individuals to U.S. circuit court judgeships, of whom 12 (or 63%) were also confirmed during the first year of his presidency.
 Of individuals nominated to circuit court judgeships during President Trump’s first year in office, 15 (79%) were men and 4 (21%) were women.
 Of individuals nominated to circuit court judgeships during President Trump’s first year in office, 17 (89%) were white and 2 (11%) were Asian American.
 The average age of President Trump’s first-year circuit court nominees was 49.
 Of individuals nominated to circuit court judgeships during President Trump’s first year in office, 16 (84%) received a rating of well qualified from the American Bar Association, 2 (11%) received a rating of qualified, and 1 (5%) received a rating of not qualified.
 The average length of time from nomination to confirmation for President Trump’s first-year circuit and district court nominees (combined) was 115 days, or approximately 3.8 months.
 Each of the circuit court nominees confirmed during President Trump’s first year in office was confirmed by roll call vote (and none by unanimous consent or voice vote).
 Of the 12 circuit court nominees confirmed during President Trump’s first year in office, 11 received more than 20 nay votes at the time of confirmation (and of the 11, 9 received more than 40 nay votes).

Some of the report’s findings regarding district court nominations include the following:

 The number of U.S. district court vacancies increased by 38, from 86 to 124, during the first year of the Trump presidency. The percentage of district court judgeships that were vacant increased from 12.8% to 18.4%.
 During his first year in office, President Trump nominated 49 individuals to U.S. district court judgeships, of whom 6 (12%) were also confirmed during the first year of his presidency.
 Of individuals nominated to district court judgeships during President Trump’s first year in office, 37 (76%) were men and 12 (24%) were women.
 Of individuals nominated to district court judgeships during President Trump’s first year in office, 45 (92%) were white, 2 (4%) were Asian American, 1 (2%) was African American, and 1 (2%) was Hispanic.
The average age of President Trump’s first-year district court nominees was 51.
 Of individuals nominated to district court judgeships during President Trump’s first year in office, 26 (53%) received a rating of well qualified, 20 (41%) received a rating of qualified, and 3 (6%) received a rating of not qualified from the American Bar Association.
 Each of the district court nominees confirmed during President Trump’s first year in office was confirmed by roll call vote (and none by unanimous consent or voice vote).
 Of the six district court nominees confirmed during President Trump’s first year in office, two received more than five nay votes.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hopefully Nelson will not return blue slips for any SDFL nominees.

Anonymous said...

From a liberal to 9:27am:

Stop with the blue slip nonsense. The senate has even moved away from blue slips. Listen to the news. Nominees are moving to confirmation vote without blue slips.

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2018-01-30/senate-confirms-first-judge-nominee-without-blue-slip

and

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/09/opinion/senate-judicial-nominees-blue-slips.html

"Now blue slips seem to be going the way of the filibuster for judicial nominees. Democrats eliminated that practice in 2013 for lower-court nominees, and Republicans eliminated it last year for Supreme Court nominees. Last November, Senator Charles Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, scheduled a hearing for an Eighth Circuit nominee, David Stras, even though Al Franken, then the senior senator from Minnesota, refused to return his blue slip. Now Senator Grassley will hold a hearing for Mr. Bounds, who lacks even one blue slip from his senators. (I should note that Mr. Bounds is a friend of mine from law school.)"


Anonymous said...

well, I guess people will finally be able to wager on sports beyond the Las Vegas city limits

Anonymous said...

You're some liberal. If Democrats eliminated them why did Rubio block two nominees with blue slips?

Anonymous said...

The cops really blew it on the rental car case.
The arguments were typical Government complete disregard of any Constitutional Rights.

Anonymous said...

350
Actually you are the quintessential liberal... one that doesn't read. If you take a look again, you will see that "that practice" refers to the filibuster, not blue slips. Your middle school English teacher would be very disappointed.

Anonymous said...

As a GOP'r I love that libs are so weak and scared. We just run over you every time. A beautiful thing.

Anonymous said...

Yeah forget democracy, rule of law, serving the people (yes, publicly elected officials are public servants not rulers), or even doing the right thing, it's all about tribalism and having OUR team win. That's how you end up supporting an accused pedophile for the senate, a noted racist for AG, and a racist for President.

Anonymous said...

dems had a rapist ( bill clinton )...a killer ( ted kennedy ) and robert byrd. also the party of keith X

Anonymous said...

9:36 - your comment proves my point. It's all about winning our favored policy outcomes. Everything else is secondary.

Anonymous said...

Ginsburg and sotomayer voted to uphold sports gambling ban

Anonymous said...

Is there a Nobel Prize for being made a fool of?
If so, trump has it all sewn up!