Update: Judicial Nominees

An update regarding the confirmation of judicial nominees in the U.S. Senate.

On Tuesday, the Senate confirmed two more federal appeals court judges as well as a federal district court judge.

Two nominees from Michigan cleared the Senate.  Ray Kethledge was confirmed for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Steve Murphy will be seated on the bench for the Eastern District Court of Michigan.  Both were confirmed by voice votes in the Senate.

The third nominee, Helene White, nominated for a seat on the Sixth Circuit, came before the Senate where a roll call vote occured.  She was confirmed by a vote of 63-32.

These three confirmations do represent important progress in the right direction, but there's still much work to be done.

The fact is that two well qualified nominees for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit - Robert Conrad and Steve Matthews - remain bottled up in the Senate Judiciary Committee.  So does the nomination of Peter Keisler for a seat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

While there has been some movement, it's also clear that Senate leadership - Majority Leader Harry Reid and Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy - continue to obstruct this confirmation process.

These nominees deserve consideration and an up-or-down vote. 

Here's where we stand right now:  9 of President Bush's nominees to federal appeals courts have been confirmed during the last two years of his term.  During that same period under President Clinton, 15 nominees to appeals courts were confirmed.

If the current situation does not change in the Senate - and it certainly is an uphill battle to change it - President Bush will have the fewest appeals court nominees confirmed of any president during the final two years of his term.  Our Government Affairs team on Capitol Hill continues to work on this issue and we will keep you posted as developments unfold.