Law Commons^™

Filling Lower Court Vacancies In Congress' Lame Duck Session, Carl Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

In this midterm election year of 2022, the nation’s divided political parties are in a battle royale to win the exceedingly close Senate majority. One important explanation for the fight is that the party which assumes the next Senate majority will necessarily have considerable power to affect the confirmation of federal judges. For example, during Donald Trump’s presidency, Republicans controlled the Senate; therefore, the chief executive and the upper chamber proposed and confirmed fifty-four accomplished,
extremely conservative, young appeals court, and 174 district court, jurists. The Republican White House and Senate majority confirmed judges by rejecting or deemphasizing the rules …

Keep The Federal Courts Great, Carl Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Ever since Donald Trump began running for President, he has incessantly vowed to “make the federal judiciary great again” by deliberately seating conservative, young, and capable judicial nominees, a project which Republican senators and their leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), have decidedly embraced and now vigorously implement. The chief executive and McConnell now constantly remind the American people of their monumental success in nominating and confirming aspirants to the federal courts. The Senate has expeditiously and aggressively confirmed two very conservative, young, and competent Supreme Court Justices and fifty-three analogous circuit jurists, all of whom Trump nominated and vigorously supported throughout …

Filling The Seventh Circuit Vacancies, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

In January 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Donald Schott and Myra Selby for empty judicial positions on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Schott is a very talented practitioner, who has efficaciously served as a well-respected partner of a major law firm for greater than thirty years. For instance, Schott has professionally worked on numerous complicated federal suits and a plethora of complex actions, many of which efforts concluded with alternative dispute resolution. Selby is concomitantly an exceptional lawyer, who has compiled a distinguished record in the public and private sectors. For example, the compelling prospect …

Filling Federal Court Vacancies In A Presidential Election Year, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Scholars and politicians who closely track the federal judicial selection process appreciate that confirmations slow and ultimately halt over presidential election years, a phenomenon which has greater salience in a chief executive's last administration. The first section of this article canvasses selection in Barack Obama's tenure, ascertaining that Republicans cooperated little and contravened numerous traditions, especially after the party captured a majority. Thus, section two analyzes why the GOP did not collaborate and the consequences. Because that obstruction-which undercuts justice and regard for the coequal branches of government- will actually continue across 2016, the piece surveys devices, which could rectify …

Confirming Circuit Judges In A Presidential Election Year, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Over 2016, President Barack Obama tapped accomplished, mainstream candidates for seven of twelve federal appeals court vacancies. Nevertheless, the Senate Judiciary Committee has furnished a public hearing and vote for merely three nominees and did not conduct a hearing for any other prospect this year. 2016 concomitantly is a presidential election year in which appointments can be delayed and stopped—a conundrum that Justice Antonin Scalia’s Supreme Court vacancy exacerbates. Because appellate courts comprise tribunals of last resort for practically all cases and critically need each of their members to deliver justice, the appointments process merits scrutiny. The Essay first evaluates …

Judicial Selection In Congress' Lame Duck Session, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

This Article first scrutinizes the Obama Administration confirmation and nomination processes. It then critically explores selection and concludes that Republican obstruction instigated the most open positions the longest time. Because this deficiency undermines swift, economical, and fair case resolution, the Article suggests ideas to promptly decrease the remaining unoccupied judgeships after the session commences.

Considering Patricia Millett For The D.C. Circuit, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

On June 4, Obama nominated three individuals: Patricia Millett, who has argued 32 Supreme Court appeals, Cornelia Pillard, who has won landmark High Court victories, and Robert Wilkins, who had served as a D.C. District Court judge for three years. The court’s allegedly smaller caseloads prompted Republicans to halt yes or no votes for all the nominees. But because well-qualified, moderate nominees warrant thorough consideration and final ballots, their Senate review deserves analysis, which this paper conducts by emphasizing Millett. It first surveys the nominee’s process and then shows how her evaluation concluded.

Senate Gridlock And Federal Judicial Selection, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

One crucial locus of gridlock is appointments to the United States Courts of Appeals, which have grown extremely contentious, as the circuits resolve disputes about controversial issues and can effectively be tribunals of last resort for designated areas. Continuous Republican and Democratic charges, recriminations, and divisiveness have roiled the process for decades. The bench constitutes 179 judgeships; however, seventeen remained vacant at President Barack Obama's second inauguration notwithstanding his pledge to end the "confirmation wars" by assiduously consulting senators. Laboring without ten percent of the appellate court members subverts prompt, inexpensive and fair case disposition and undermines citizen respect for …

Justifying Diversity In The Federal Judiciary, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

This Essay thus scrutinizes Obama’s judicial selection effort, which confirms many ideas that Scherer espouses while showing how political deficiencies in the modern selection process erode diversity and legitimacy, and perhaps Scherer’s provocative solution. This response ultimately discusses some promising measures beyond Scherer’s recommendation that could enhance diversity and legitimacy in light of the threat that politicization poses

A Demographic Snapshot Of America's Federal Judiciary: A Prima Facie Case For Change, Jonathan K. Stubbs

Law Faculty Publications

Nearly a decade ago, then judge Sonia Sotomayer gave a speech at the U.C. Berkeley Law School and asked a simple question: “What it all will mean to have more women and people of color on the bench?” This article places Justice Sotomayer’s perceptive question in historical context by providing a demographic profile of the gender and race of federal judges confirmed to the bench from September 24, 1789 through January 13, 2011. The paper focuses principally upon federal courts of general jurisdiction, specifically, the Supreme Court, the various Courts of Appeal and the federal district courts. After presenting historical …

Judge Thompson And The Appellate Court Confirmation Process, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Judge 0. Rogeriee Thompson's appointment to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit was an historic moment, as she became the tribunal's first African American member. The Senate confirmed her in five months on a 98-0 vote, more expeditiously than any of President Barack Obama's other appellate nominees. Indeed, Fourth Circuit nominee Judge Albert Diaz waited thirteen months for approval. The slow pace of judicial confirmation demonstrates that the charges and recriminations, the partisanship and the serial paybacks, which have infused appointments for two decades, remain. Judge Thompson's confirmation, accordingly, deserves celebration and recounting. It both illuminates …

Filling The Fourth Circuit Vacancies, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Federal judicial selection has become increasingly controversial. Allegations and recriminations, partisan division, and incessant paybacks have accompanied the appeals court appointments process for decades. These phenomena were pervasive in the administration of President George W. Bush as well as in nominations and confirmations to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, particularly with respect to judgeships assigned to North Carolina.

The protracted vacancies have eroded the Fourth Circuit's delivery of justice, as operating without the fifteen circuit judges whom Congress authorized has exacted a toll. Across two and a half recent years, the court functioned absent a …

Postpartisan Federal Judicial Selection, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The problem of numerous, persistent vacancies in the federal judiciary continues to undermine expeditious, inexpensive, and fair case resolution. As the Obama administration is still in its early stages, the process for nominating and securing the confirmation of federal judges merits consideration. This Essay chronicles the origins and development of the appointments conundrum. Although enhanced federal jurisdiction and growing caseloads are partially to blame, partisan politics has also prevented swift nomination and confirmation for over twenty years. The Essay then describes the processes employed by the Obama administration during its nascency. Finally, the Essay offers suggestions to facilitate the judicial …

Fourth Circuit Judicial Appointments, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Fourth Circuit judicial selection deserves an examination, which this Article undertakes. The first part investigates the background of the Fourth Circuit appointments process, emphasizing relevant developments throughout the Bush Administration. The second part descriptively and critically assesses nomination and confirmation in the Obama Administration. The third part derives lessons from the Fourth Circuit selection efforts by comparing them with Obama's national selection efforts and processes in other administrations. For example, all four Obama nominees are ethnic minorities or women and were sitting judges when nominated, and one is younger than fifty-five. Accordingly, their confirmation increases the appeals court's ethnic and …

Diversity And The Federal Bench, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Justice Sonia Sotomayor's appointment was historic. She is the first Latina Supreme Court member and President Barack Obama's initial appointment. Her confirmation is the quintessential example of his commitment to increasing ethnic and gender diversity in the judiciary; it epitomizes how the administration has nominated and appointed people of color and women to the appellate and district courts. Enhancing diversity honors valuable goals. Selection across a presidency's initial fifteen months also creates the tone. These ideas suggest that the nascent administration's judicial selection merits evaluation, which this paper conducts. Part I briefly assesses modern chief executives' divergent records in naming …

Improving Federal Judicial Selection, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Review of Benjamin Wittes, Confirmation Wars: Preserving Independent Courts in Angry Times (2006).

Filling Federal Appellate Vacancies, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Judicial selection for the United States Courts of Appeals has rarely been so controversial. Delay in nominating and analyzing candidates as well as fractious accusations, recriminations, and "paybacks" between Democrats and Republicans have vexed circuit appointments over two decades. Many judgeships remain empty for long periods, while one position has been vacant since 1994. Certain appellate tribunals have confronted acute difficulties. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently operated absent half its judicial complement across eight months, and numerous courts labored without one in three members at various junctures.

The Senate, which furnishes advice and consent, has …

Unmasking Judicial Extremism, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Review of Cass R. Sunstein, Radicals in Robes: Why Extreme Right-Wing Courts Are Wrong for America (2005)

Dear President Bush: Leaving A Legacy On The Federal Bench, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The appointments of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito were milestones in your stated quest to transform the courts. Appreciating that a critical duty assigned to the president by the Constitution is nominating and, with Senate advice and consent, appointing judges, you vowed to recommend "strict constructionists." Selection has enhanced importance, given modern perceptions that judges are essentially the final arbiters of societal disputes, including such questions as terrorism and affirmative action. The Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and Grutter v. Bollinger opinions as well as the public school desegregation and Schiavo litigation trenchantly illuminate those notions.

You can still …

Reconsidering Virginia Judicial Selection, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The 2008 Virginia General Assembly adjourned this summer without electing judges to vacancies on the State Corporation Commission (the "Commission" or "SCC"), the Supreme Court of Virginia, and numerous circuit courts. Thus, Democratic Governor Tim Kaine recently appointed individuals to fill these openings. Although the jurists whom the Governor appointed seem very well-qualified, the judges may only serve for five months, unless the 2009 General Assembly elects them. The 2008 Assembly's failure to elect judges for these vacancies demonstrates that the selection process is ineffective, and perhaps broken, as this development has eroded the delivery of justice and may have …

Bork Was The Beginning: Constitutional Moralism And The Politics Of Judicial Selection, Gary L. Mcdowell

Law Faculty Publications

On October 23, 1987, the United States Senate committed what many considered then-and what many still consider today-to be an unforgivable political and constitutional sin. Wielding its power to advise and consent on nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States, the upper house voted 58-42 not to confirm Judge Robert H. Bork. The vote, which was the largest margin of defeat in history for a nominee to the Supreme Court, concluded one of the most tumultuous political battles in the history of the republic, a battle that would transform the process of judicial selection for years to come.

The Federal Appellate Court Appointments Conundrum,, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Selection of federal appellate court judges is now extremely controversial. Slowed nominee processing, accusations and countercharges between Democrats and Republicans, as well as "paybacks," have characterized appointments since 1990. One tenth of the 179 active circuit judgeships authorized by the United States Congress are perennially vacant, and substantial numbers of these positions can remain open for years. The Senate Judiciary Committee increasingly votes along straight political party lines, and Democratic senators even relied on filibusters to deny nominees positions on the United States Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit as well as the Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth …

Appellate Court Appointments In The Second Bush Administration, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Prof. Tobias discusses the renominations by President George W. Bush of twelve candidates for the United States courts of appeals, all previously opposed by Democratic senators during the President's initial term. Likely reasons and predicted consequences for these renominations are offered.

Sixth Circuit Federal Judicial Selection, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Many of the 179 active federal appeals court judgeships authorized by Congress have remained vacant for protracted times. Over the last dozen years, the appellate system has experienced numerous openings, which have generally comprised ten percent of those seats. Particular tribunals' situations have been worse. At various times since 1996, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Fourth, and Ninth Circuits operated without a third of their judges. However, the most egregious and recent illustration is the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Almost half of that court's positions are now empty, while a number …

A Note On The Neutral Assignment Of Federal Appellate Judges, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Response to J. Robert Brown, Jr. & Allison Herren Lee, Neutral Assignment of Judges at the Court of Appeals, 78 Tex. L. Rev. 1037 (2000).

Dear President Bush, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Tobias offers advice on judicial selection philosophy for the newly-elected President George W. Bush.

Federal Judicial Selection In The Fourth Circuit, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Tobias assesses federal judicial selection for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and for North Carolina. His Essay ascertains that four of fifteen active judgeships that Congress has authorized for the court have remained vacant over a considerable period and that a seat designated for North Carolina has been unfilled for seven years. He finds that these judicial vacancies may affect the appellate justice which the Fourth Circuit delivers and that North Carolina deserves.

The Bush Administration And Appeals Courts Nominees, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

On May 9, President George H.W. Bush announced his first set of nominees for the United States Courts of Appeals. With a White House ceremony which chief executives traditionally reserve for United States Supreme Court designees, the president introduced eleven individuals whom he proposed for vacancies on the federal intermediate appellate courts. Submitting a package of appeals court nominees might seem to be a relatively mundane exercise. However, the developments that led to Bush's recommendations, the staging of this event, and the candidates tendered actually reveal much about contemporary judicial selection, which is a critical feature of constitutional governance. For …

Choosing Judges At The Close Of The Clinton Administration, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Tobias suggests that federal judicial selection is one important area in which ·President Bill Clinton hopes that he will leave a legacy. The author finds that the first Clinton Administration realized much success in choosing judges who make the federal judiciary more diverse and who possess excellent qualifications. Over the last five years, however, the Administration has not been equally successful either in placing highly competent female and minority attorneys on the bench or in filling the perennial judicial vacancies, partly because the Republican Party has enjoyed a significant majority in the Senate. The author's analysis shows that similar …

Filling The Federal Appellate Openings On The 9th Circuit, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Throughout much of the 1990s, the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has operated with fewer than the court's complete complement of 28 active judges. Since 1995, when Republican senators representing states of the Pacific Northwest instituted a serious campaign to divide the 9th Circuit, the court has essentially functioned absent one-fourth of its membership. The large number of openings and their protracted nature, as well as a steadily expanding docket, have demanded that the 9th Circuit depend on many appellate and district court judges who are not active members of the 9th Circuit when staffing three-judge …