	Introduction

In recent years a subject of continuing interest to Congress has been the length of time taken for lower court nominations to receive Senate confirmation. Most recently, during the 111 th and 112 th Congresses, Senate debate on this subject has concerned whether President Obama's nominees to U.S. circuit or district court judgeships, relative to the judicial nominees of other recent Presidents, have waited longer to receive up-or-down votes by the Senate. Part of this debate, in turn, has focused on the waiting times from nomination to confirmation of President Obama's uncontroversial judicial nominees who have enjoyed bipartisan support in the Senate. The section also shows, from the Reagan presidency to the Obama presidency, the percentage of circuit and district court nominees approved by the Senate and who, according to the methodology used in the report, qualify as uncontroversial. The average and median waiting times from nomination to confirmation, the section finds, generally increased from one presidency to the next for uncontroversial circuit and district court nominees. Figure 2 tracks, by presidency (from Reagan to Obama), the mean and median number of days from first nomination to confirmation for all circuit and district court nominees approved by the Senate, during the period January 20, 1981, to September 14, 2012, whose nominations were reported favorably out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by voice vote or a unanimous roll call vote and who were confirmed by the Senate by voice vote or, if a roll call vote was held, received 5 or fewer nay votes. Uncontroversial U.S. Finally, under President Obama, uncontroversial circuit court nominees have waited, on average, 227.3 days from nomination to confirmation. The mean and median number of days from first nomination to confirmation ranged from a low of 69.9 and 41.0 days, respectively, during the Reagan presidency to a high of 204.8 and 208.0 days, respectively, during the Obama presidency. The average number of days from nomination to confirmation for uncontroversial district court nominees increased from 69.9 days during the Reagan presidency to 112.6 days during the G.H.W. Percentage of Nominees Waiting Specified Length of Time from Nomination to Confirmation

As the mean and median trend lines in Figure 2 suggest, the percentage of uncontroversial judicial nominees waiting at least 200 days from nomination to confirmation has increased in recent years. Uncontroversial U.S. Circuit Court Nominees

Under both Presidents Reagan and G.H.W. Bush presidency to a low of 11.5% during the Reagan presidency. Bush's uncontroversial district court nominees). Circuit and District Court Nominees

Across the five most recent presidencies there has been a general increase in the waiting times from nomination to confirmation for uncontroversial U.S. circuit and district court nominees. There are various institutional and political factors that have possibly contributed to this increase—including ideological differences between a President and Senators of the opposite party or between the Senate's two parties; procedures used by the Judiciary Committee to process a President's judicial nominees; floor procedures used to dispense with judicial nominations; and the role taken by non-committee Senators in the vetting of judicial nominees. Bush presidency in the mean and median number of days from first nomination to confirmation for uncontroversial judicial nominees, might be regarded as attributable, in part, to the waiting time during the Bush presidency between when the Senate Judiciary Committee received a nomination and subsequently received the ABA's report on a nominee. Additionally, longer wait times might be desirable because they provide interest groups and citizens a greater opportunity to participate in the confirmation process by contacting Senators to express their views on judicial nominees (whether such nominees are uncontroversial or not).
In recent years, a recurring subject of debate in the Senate has been the length of time taken for lower court nominations to receive Senate confirmation. During the 111th and 112th Congresses, this debate has focused, in part, on President Obama's uncontroversial nominees to U.S. circuit and district court judgeships—and on whether, or to what extent, such nominees have waited longer to receive Senate confirmation than the uncontroversial judicial nominees of other recent Presidents.
To more fully inform this debate, the following report provides a statistical overview, from Presidents Reagan to Obama, of the waiting times from nomination to confirmation of uncontroversial U.S. circuit and district court nominees approved by the Senate from 1981 to September 14, 2012. For the purposes of this report, an uncontroversial judicial nominee is a nominee (1) whose nomination was reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee by voice vote or, if a roll call vote was held, the nomination was unanimously reported favorably by the committee to the full Senate, and (2) whose nomination was approved by voice vote when confirmed by the Senate or, if a roll call vote was held, received 5 or fewer nay votes.
Findings in the report include the following:
Average and median waiting times to confirmation increased steadily with each presidency, from Ronald Reagan's to Barack Obama's, for uncontroversial circuit court nominees and almost as steadily for uncontroversial district court nominees.
Uncontroversial Circuit Court Nominees
For uncontroversial circuit court nominees, the mean and median number of days from nomination to confirmation ranged from a low of 64.5 and 44.0 days, respectively, during the Reagan presidency to a high of 227.3 and 218.0 days, respectively, during the Obama presidency. The percentage of uncontroversial circuit court nominees waiting more than 200 days from first nomination to confirmation increased from 5.1% during the Reagan presidency to 63.6% during the Obama presidency.
Uncontroversial District Court Nominees
For uncontroversial district court nominees, the mean and median number of days from nomination to confirmation ranged from a low of 69.9 and 41.0 days, respectively, during the Reagan presidency to a high of 204.8 and 208.0 days, respectively, during the Obama presidency. The percentage of uncontroversial district court nominees waiting more than 200 days from first nomination to confirmation increased from 6.6% during the Reagan presidency to 54.7% during the Obama presidency.
Various political and institutional factors in the Senate might help explain the increase, across presidencies, in the waiting times from nomination to confirmation experienced by uncontroversial U.S. circuit and district court nominees. These include ideological differences between the President and Senators, how quickly the Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearings on and reports a President's nominees, how often holds are placed on nominations when they reach the Senate Executive Calendar, how readily unanimous consent agreements can be reached to bring nominees up for votes, and the role played by Senators not serving on the Judiciary Committee in vetting judicial nominees.
There are several possible implications for the longer waiting times from nomination to confirmation for uncontroversial U.S. circuit and district court nominees, including an increase in the number of judicial vacancies qualifying as "judicial emergencies," the reluctance of well-qualified nominees with bipartisan support to undergo a lengthy confirmation process, an increase in partisan or ideological tensions in the Senate, enhanced Senate consideration of nominees who are nominated to positions with lifetime tenure, and a greater opportunity for interest groups and citizens to participate in the confirmation process.