UPDATE: To view an updated version (5 Bush confirmations
now that Southwick has been confirmed) click here or check this
blog post from 10/25/2007.
While
some may contend that the United States Senate is doing a respectable job in
confirming judicial nominees, the stats don’t lie.
The U.S.
Senate needs to take its constitutional responsibility to provide “advice and
consent” on President Bush’s judicial nominations seriously, especially in
light of glaring vacancies in the federal courts.
If one
compared the number of circuit court judges confirmed in the last two years of
an eight-year presidential term in which the President and Senate belong to
opposing parties, Bill Clinton would be the “hare” while George W. Bush would not
even merit “tortoise” status. AdvanceUSA has prepared this graph which
compares the circuit court confirmation statistics of Bill Clinton and George
W. Bush who find themselves in nearly identical political situations. Click here for a
larger version of this graph.