Alliance for Justice Joins 75 Organizations to Call on Senate to Return to "Regular Order" on Judicial Nominations

 

Washington, D.C., February 15, 2011–Alliance for Justice has joined with a diverse coalition of 75 other organizations in signing an open letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, urging the Senate to return to “regular order” and permit swift confirmation votes on President Obama’s judicial nominees.

The letter decries the persistent pattern of obstruction in the last Congress that “led to the lowest percentage of a president’s nominees being confirmed at this point in his presidency than any president in American history.”

The 76 groups signing the letter represent a wide range of constituencies and reflect growing concern throughout American society about the crisis in the courts and the threat to the viability of the judicial system posed by unfilled judicial vacancies. Among the organizations speaking out are the National Resources Defense Council; The Wilderness Society; the Sierra Club; Human Rights Campaign; the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence; AIDS United, Communications Workers of America and Service Employees International Union.

Senate leaders have promised a new spirit of compromise and cooperation during the recent debates over rules reform. Although the Senate has confirmed 5 nominees in this session, that number does not even keep pace with retirements from the federal bench announced in the last few months. President Obama has already renominated 42 nominees who were returned at the end of the 111^th Congress, and the Senate has pledged to accelerate the pace of nominations in the current Congress.

“Over 100 federal judgeships are currently vacant,” Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron said in explaining why AFJ signed the letter. “That’s more than one in nine, with 44 of those classified as judicial emergencies. A terrible price is being paid by our judicial system due to relentless obstructionist tactics over the past two years. Dozens of courtrooms are dealing with backlogs and crushing caseloads, threatening the ability of our courts to provide justice to the American people. Alliance for Justice has signed this letter with dozens of other organizations because we all believe the crisis must end and Senators Reid and McConnell must fulfill their promise to get the judicial confirmation process back on track.”

The letter expresses a growing fear that “continued obstruction of nominations would further poison the political atmosphere, needlessly heighten partisan tensions, and make it far more difficult for the federal government to serve the public interest.” The signatories call for the members of the Senate to “work together in a bipartisan fashion to proceed with prompt confirmation votes. 

See below for the letter text and a list of signatories. A PDF copy of the letter is also available online.

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For up-to-date statistics on judicial nominations and vacancies in the federal court system, click here for AFJ’s Judicial Selection Snapshot (updated as the numbers change).

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The Honorable Harry Reid
522 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510 

The Honorable Mitch McConnell
361-A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

February 15, 2011

Dear Senators Reid and McConnell:

The undersigned organizations, who represent the interests of everyday Americans, strongly urge you to work to ensure that judicial nominees are given timely confirmation votes in the Senate during the 112th Congress. 

In the 111th Congress, filibuster threats, anonymous “holds,” and the failure to hold regular votes created a troubling backlog of judicial nominees, resulting in widespread unfilled vacancies on the bench that are hindering the important work of our judicial branch - particularly in the many areas of our nation that now face judicial emergencies. We cannot tolerate a repeat of these obstructionist practices, as they led to the lowest percentage of a president’s nominees being confirmed at this point in his presidency than any president in American history.

Since taking office, President Obama has worked with home state Senators on a bipartisan basis to select extraordinarily well-qualified judicial nominees who could easily be confirmed by wide margins and begin serving the public, if their nomination were only brought to a vote before the full Senate. Yet a troubling number of these nominees, many of whom were cleared by the Committee on the Judiciary in the 111th Congress with little or no opposition, were blocked from up-or-down confirmation votes for reasons that defy explanation. Indeed, many of President Obama’s judicial nominees languished for many months on the Senate floor, raising significant doubts about the legitimacy of the ongoing delays in confirmation proceedings. This is not the way nominations have been treated by prior Congresses. 

Due to arcane floor procedures that allow a single member to impede the important business of the Senate, our judicial branch has reached a state of crisis. Out of 875 federal judgeships, 101 are currently vacant, with 44 of those vacancies now characterized as “judicial emergencies” in which courts are being overwhelmed by filings. As a result, a growing number of Americans, from all walks of life and across all economic strata, are finding it increasingly more difficult to assert their legal rights and to have their fair day in court.

We write to you at a time when our nation faces numerous challenges that cry out for bipartisan cooperation, including major economic challenges and continued international threats. We strongly believe that the continued obstruction of nominations would further poison the political atmosphere, needlessly heighten partisan tensions, and make it far more difficult for the federal government to serve the public interest.

For these reasons, as the 112th Congress gets under way, we strongly urge you to continue to work together in a bipartisan fashion to proceed with prompt confirmation votes on judicial nominees who have been approved by the Committee on the Judiciary. Floor votes should be taken on nominees shortly after they have been reported out of committee, so that the process can work in a regular manner.

Thank you for your consideration.

AIDS United

Alliance for Justice

American Association of People with Disabilities

American Association of University Women (AAUW)

American Constitution Society

American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)

American Rivers

Asian American Justice Center, a member of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice

Asian Pacific American Legal Center, a member of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice

Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

Business and Professional People for the Public Interest

Campaign for America's Future

Center for Inquiry

Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

Communications Workers of America (CWA)

Consumer Action

Defenders of Wildlife

Earthjustice

Environmental Working Group (EWG)

Equal Justice Society

Friends of the Earth

Hispanic Federation

Hispanic National Bar Association

Hispanics for a Fair Judiciary

Human Rights Campaign (HRC)

Interfaith Alliance

Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law

Justice at Stake

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund

LatinoJustice PRLDEF

League of Conservation Voters

League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)

Legal Momentum

Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)

National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA)

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC)

National Center for Lesbian Rights

National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW)

National Council on Independent Living

National Disability Rights Network

National Employment Lawyers Association

National Fair Housing Alliance

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund

National Health Law Program

National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH)

National Native American Bar Association

National Organization for Women

National Partnership for Women and Families

National Senior Citizens Law Center

National Urban League

National Women’s Law Center (NWLC)

Natural Resources Defense Council

Open Society Policy Center

People For the American Way

Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Progress Michigan

Project Vote

Public Advocates, Inc.

Public Citizen

Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law

Secular Coalition for America

Service Employees International Union

Sierra Club

TASH

The Advocacy Fund

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law

The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

The Wilderness Society

Tides

Union for Reform Judaism

Voices for Progress

Women’s Law Project

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