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May 22, 2001

In First Two Years, New Presidents
Get More Than 90 Percent
Of Their Judicial Nominees Confirmed

Over the last quarter century, more than 90 percent of each new president's judicial nominees were confirmed during his first two years in office. This has been true even when different political parties controlled the Senate and the White House.

• President Carter had 93 percent of his nominees confirmed in his first two years.
• President Reagan had 98 percent of his nominees confirmed in his first two years.
• The first President Bush had 93 percent of his nominees confirmed in his first two years.
• President Clinton had 90 percent of his nominees confirmed in his first two years.

There are now 31 vacancies on the United States courts of appeals and 69 vacancies on the United States district courts. Based on caseload and the length of the vacancy, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has declared that 36 of these vacancies are "judicial emergencies."

On May 9, 2001, President Bush began the process of filling these vacancies by nominating 11 distinguished jurists to the United States courts of appeals. Many more nominations will be made during the coming months.

If history is any guide, this Senate will confirm more than 90 percent of President Bush's judicial nominees. No new president during the last 25 years has had a rate of success of less than 90 percent during the first Congress of his presidency.

Perhaps, though, history is no longer a guide to how the Senate intends to handle judicial nominees. There are rumblings from across the aisle and threats that the long-standing practices of the Senate are going to be changed. If so, the chart on the back will help show how radical and far-reaching these changes might be.

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