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97 Judicature 7 (2013-2014)
Obama's First Term Judiciary: Picking Judges in the Minefield of Obstructionism

handle is hein.journals/judica97 and id is 7 raw text is: FIRST TERM JUDICIARY PICKING JUDGES IN THE MINEFIELD OF OBSTRUCTIONISM Selection and cofrmatio prosse [of lwrLfedrort jude firstterm ar ovrhdwe existsu unrcdente su ine Preident mra s mpreeete lvel ofobst[cin an deat teeaso dspit al th obstals of diesilvn the fderal bench by SHELDON GOLDMAN, ELLIOT SLOTNICK, and SARA SCHIAVONI President Barack Obama's stunning victory in 2008, along with firm Democratic control of both houses of Congress, augured well for the President's agenda, which included staffing the judiciary with liberals and moderates to offset the conser- vative legacy resulting from Obama's Republican predecessor, President George W. Bush. Although the Obama administra- tion saw major legislative victories during the first two years, its path was much harder than anticipated largely due to partisan obstruction- ism in the Senate. Judicial selection and confirmation politics were also problematic due to partisanship and the slow start of the administration in nominating lower court judges. The 2010 midterm elections saw Republicans gain control of the House of Representatives and eat into the Democratic majority in the Senate. This new political dynamic raised the ante of obstruction and delay in antic- ipation of Republican recapture of the White House and Senate. Of course the outcome of the 2012 election defied Republican hopes, but the con- sequences for selection and confirma- tion of federal judges during Obama's second term appear uncertain. Our focus in this article is on the Obama first term judiciary with par- ticular attention to lower federal court confirmations duringthe 112th Congress. Following the format of earlier articles in this series,' we will be examining the selection and confirmation processes during President Obama's first term with special emphasis on 2011 and 2012 (coinciding with the life of the 112th Congress). Our attention will then turn to the backgrounds and attri- butes of those confirmed during the 112th, first examining district court appointees and then appointees to the appeals courts. We will also be looking at a composite portrait of the entire first term Obama judiciary and comparing the findings to those of the appointees of Obama's four immediate predecessors in office. We will conclude with our take on what may happen during President Obama's second term. For our examination of the selec- tion and confirmation processes, particularly during the second half of the first term, we relied on extensive interviews with leading participants and observers of these processes; our interviews were conducted with officials in the Department of Justice, the White House Counsel's office, and with Senate staff personnel. We also interviewed interest group repre- sentatives from groups ranging from very liberal to very conservative.2 We gathered data for our tables from Sara Schiavoni wishes to thank John Anthony Ambrose for his meticulous data collection. Of course, the authors are solely responsible for all errors of fact and interpretation. 1. The most recent article in the series is Sheldon Goldman, Elliot Slotnick, and Sara Schiavoni, Obama's judiciary at midterm: the confirmation drama continues, 94 JUDICATURE 262 (2011). 2. The authors are very grateful to all these individuals for their invaluable help. Some have no problem with being publicly acknowledged, which we do here. Others prefer to be unidenti- fied, which we of course, have respected. *-A D~T1R

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