Civil Rights Community Urges Senate to Move Judicial Nominations

With Elena Kagan confirmed to the Supreme Court, civil rights groups are frustrated that the Senate left for recess without confirming pending judicial nominees that had been held up unnecessarily.

Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said that Kagan’s confirmation “should not obscure the fact that President Obama’s opponents are engaging in an unprecedented use of secret holds and filibusters to delay – and ultimately deny – confirmation votes for a significant number of highly qualified nominees to the federal district and circuit courts.”

As of July 30, seven circuit court and 14 district court nominees recommended by the Senate Judiciary Committee were being denied confirmation votes on the Senate floor.  Many of them have been languishing for as long as eight months following the committee vote, and most have strong support from their home-state senators – both Republican and Democrat – and the civil and human rights community.

“The level of obstruction being displayed by the GOP is jaw dropping,” said Marge Baker, executive vice president at People For the American Way.  “It’s clear that Republican Senators are intent on grinding judicial nominations to a halt.”

Goodwin Liu and Edward Chen of California, Albert Diaz of North Carolina, Raymond Lohier of New York, and Jane Stranch of Tennessee have all been recommended by the Senate Judiciary Committee but are being denied confirmation votes. The Senate adjourned on Friday, sending the nominations of Liu and Chen back to President Obama.

Lower courts, which handle significantly more cases than the Supreme Court, are vital to the administration of justice.  However, these courts are experiencing an ever-expanding workload that is being made worse by the obstructionism. Of the 101 current judicial vacancies, the Judicial Conference has declared 42 to be “judicial emergencies” due primarily to excessive workloads.

Americans have expressed their support for Obama’s highly qualified and diverse judicial nominees. Listen to their audio petition to senators to stop the obstruction.(mp3)