A Push for Judgeships

Despite years of slow-walking well-qualified nominees that President George W. Bush made to the federal bench, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is now pushing for scores of new federal judgeships to be created.  This is cause for concern for a number of reasons, including the cost of the new positions and the backlog that already exists in filling the current vacancies. 

However, the far greater concern is the politically-biased approach that Sen. Leahys bill takes.  By targeting the creation of these new judgeships to occur immediately upon enactment of the bill, President Obama would potentially be given the opportunity to fill each and every new seat that is created. 

If these new judgeships are truly needed, it is only appropriate to structure the openings in a way that avoids political bias. 

We have produced an analysis of this situation and recommendations as well.  You can read that here.