The cover story in the most recent issue of the Journal of the American Bar Association features the lack of judges on the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (see image at right). Judicial nominees wait for years, while their home-state Senators beg for hearings, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says "it's not a big issue." Nominees and their families are now waiting much longer than ever before for the simple courtesy of a hearing. Overworked judges, and litigants who seek justice, think it's a big issue too. Senator Leahy might think about spending less time rehearsing for Hollywood movie roles and more time evaluating nominees.Ilya Shapiro comments about the effect of Leahy's and Reid's obstruction vis a vis the recent Al-Marri decision in the Fourth Circuit:Regardless of the merits of this case — with dueling 5-4 votes on the two main issues it’s obviously a close (and unprecedented) call — this case highlights yet again the disastrous consequences of our broken judicial confirmation process. The court that decided this important case has 15 authorized judgeships, yet only nine judges participated. One judge recused himself for an unspecified reason, one was confirmed too recently, and four crucial slots are vacant. While both parties have done their fair share to poison the confirmation well, Democrats are clearly the ones to blame for the current impasse over judges. President Bush — who in one of his first acts appointed a previously lapsed Clinton nominee, Roger Gregory, to this same court — has named nominees for all four vacancies, but the Senate has refused to act on them. The longest-suffering, District Judge Robert Conrad of North Carolina, will tomorrow have been awaiting an entire year and has not even gotten a Judiciary Committee hearing.Senator McConnell made a speech on Thursday about the continuing unprecedented obstruction of judicial nominees, and the full text is below the fold. Other Senators also spent time discussing this situation on the floor of the Senate, last Thursday (transcript here).read more
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